The tank got stuck due to high currents and a sudden increase in water levels in the Shyok River, the Army’s 14 Corps said.
5 Indian Army Personnel Die In Eastern Ladakh
Five Army personnel died early Saturday morning while carrying out a routine military training activity with tanks that involved crossing the Shyok River at the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) area of eastern Ladakh, officials told The Indian Express. A troop of R T-72 tanks was engaged in the fording exercise. The Shyok is a tributary of the Indus River which flows through northern Ladakh.
As per officials, while the leading tank managed to cross the river, at least one of the tanks drifted due to a high current and a sudden increase in water levels of the river and eventually got stuck, leading to the deaths of the Army personnel. The rescue operations to retrieve the bodies are currently underway. The Army’s 14 Corps, which is responsible for the Ladakh sector, said the tank got stuck in the Shyok River near Saser Brangsa of eastern Ladakh due to a sudden rise in water levels while it was in the process of de-inducting from a military training activity.
Since the Galwan Valley clashes in 2020, there has been an increased armoured deployment in the strategic DBO area of eastern Ladakh. DBO lies less than 10 km west of the LAC at Aksai Chin. A military outpost was created in DBO in reaction to China’s occupation of Aksai Chin and is at present manned by a combination of the Army’s Ladakh Scouts and the paramilitary ITBP.
While initially only one brigade of the tanks was deployed in the area, the deployment was subsequently increased to two brigades with an increased number of battalions. Since their deployment in the area, they have been carrying out routine training there so that the crew and tanks are familiar with the area and likely situations. Around 50,000-60,000 troops have been deployed on both sides of the India-China border since then, even as there was some troop reduction in the last few months because of winter.
