ISLAMABAD: Rescuers searching for 138 people buried under a huge avalanche at a army camp are concentrating their efforts on five points at the site, the military said on Tuesday.
A huge wall of snow crashed into the remote Siachen Glacier base high in the mountains in Kashmir early Saturday morning, smothering an area of one square kilometre (a third of a square mile).
Despite harsh conditions, the military said efforts had intensified, with more than 450 people taking part -- up from 286 late on Monday -- aided by mechanical earth movers, bulldozers and excavators, and work is focusing on certain key areas.
"Five points have been identified on the site where rescue work is in progress," the military said in a statement.
"Two points are being dug with equipment while three points are being dug manually."
Photographs released by the military Tuesday showed diggers and rescuers at work on an almost featureless expanse of dirty grey snow and ice, with no trace visible of the camp that had been the 6th Northern Light Infantry headquarters.
The total number believed missing in the disaster rose to 138 on Tuesday, as the military released an updated list naming 127 soldiers and 11 civilians. They include a lieutenant colonel, a major and a captain.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani visited on Sunday and said an avalanche of this magnitude was unprecedented in the 20 years the battalion had been based at the site.
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