An avalanche on Monday hit an Indian patrol in the world's highest militarised zone in the Himalayas, killing four soldiers and two porters, an army spokesman said.

The disaster was the latest on the Siachen Glacier at more than 5,000 metres (16,500 feet). An Indian military spokesman told AFP that the avalanche engulfed eight people in the patrol at the northern end of the glacier in the Karakoram mountain range.

Rescue teams managed to dig the patrol members out of the snow, and they were taken by helicopter to hospital. "Despite best efforts, six casualties which includes four soldiers and two civilian porters succumbed to extreme hypothermia," said the spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019