Pakistan’s army chief pays tribute to soldiers buried in avalanche last year

2013-10-04 1,272

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, on Wednesday attended a special ceremony at Gyari to pay tribute to 129 soldiers and 11 civilians of the Gyari military base who were buried alive under an avalanche in April 2012.

The massive avalanche engulfed the Pakistani army battalion headquarters near Siachin Glacier near the Indian border, burying all soldiers and civilian staff.

The military said a 200-feet (61 meters) deep mix of snow, ice, boulders and small rocks over an area a kilometer wide had covered the headquarters.

The memorial ceremony, which was organized at the avalanche site by the Pakistan army, was attended by the families of those killed in the avalanche and officers and soldiers of the Pakistan army.

Kayani, one of Pakistan's most powerful men, launched a massive search and rescue operation in the Gyari sector soon after the avalanche and vowed the soldiers would not stop searching until they h