As many as 23 jawans have lost their lives in avalanches in the Kargil region in Jammu and Kashmir, which is witnessing one of the heaviest snowfalls since the 1999 Kargil incursions.

Police sources in Srinagar said 14 soldiers of the J&K Light Infantry were swept away by an avalanche in Mushkov in the Drass sector on March 4.

So far, five bodies have been recovered while a search is on to trace the rest.

In another incident the same day, a bunker of the Garhwal Rifles in the Hunderman sector was buried under snow resulting in the death of four soldiers.

In another instance, five soldiers were swept away by an avalanche in the Khurbu sector, the sources said.

PTI adds:
Defence Minister George Fernandes on Friday flew to the frontier region of Ladakh to join a large number of jawans and officers to bid a tearful adieu to some of those killed in an avalanche on March one.

An army spokesman told reporters in Srinagar that the coffins of some of the jawans have been flown to Chandigarh from where they would be taken to their respective homes for the last rites.

Fernandes told reporters in Leh that despite the disaster, the morale of the jawans was high.