JCO dies in Siachen glacier area; Army pays tribute

SRINAGAR: The Army’s Leh-based 14 Corps, also known as the Fire and Fury Corps, on Sunday reported the death of a Junior Commissioned Office (JCO) at Siachen, the world’s highest battleground.

“The General-Officer-Commanding of the Fire and Fury Corps (Lieutenant General Hitesh Bhalla) and all ranks salute Naib Subedar Baldev Singh, who made supreme sacrifice in the line of duty in Siachen Glacier on 20 April 2025 and offer deep condolences to the bereaved family in this hour of grief,” the XVI Corps said in a post on ‘X’. It did not elaborate on the circumstances in which Naib Subedar laid down his life.

On March 20, the Army’s XVI Corps had reported the death of two jawans Havildar Kishore Bara and Sepoy Suraj Kumar “in the line of duty” in Ladakh. Then also it did not elaborate on the circumstances which led to their making “supreme sacrifice”.

Meanwhile, six Army jawans were injured when the vehicle they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell in a deep gorge near Chopra Shop area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district on Sunday.

The police said that the preliminary investigation revealed the driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve along the hilly road. It added that the rescue teams comprising the Army and the J&K police launched a rescue operation and evacuated all the injured to a nearby military hospital.