Kathmandu, February 12

An Indian Army officer from Pokhara was behind rescuing Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was dug out alive six days after being buried under 25 feet of snow following an avalanche in Siachen glacier of Jammu and Kashmir on February 8.

Unfortunately, doctors at the New-Delhi based Army Research and Referral Hospital couldn’t save him and he succumbed to injuries on Thursday.

However, his commanding officer Col Um Bahadur Gurung of the Indian Army’s 19th Madras battalion was one who didn’t give up hope and was the force behind pulling him out alive at an altitude of over 5,900 metres where temperature dropped to minus 45 degrees Celsius.

I found a special spark in him, especially in man management

• Maj Gen Virendra Kumar (retired), who commanded 19th Madras battalion between 1997 and 1999

Koppad, who hails from Karnataka, had been buried since February 3 when an avalanche struck and buried his Sonam-based military post. Nine other soldiers of the same battalion were also buried under the avalanche and had died.

Indian Defence Attache in Nepal Col Manraj Singh Mann told The Himalayan Times that Col Gurung had joined the Indian Army as a sepoy in the 3/1 Gorkha Rifles.

He was selected for the Army Cadet College through tough competition and subsequently commissioned as an officer from Deharadun-based Indian Army Cadet College.

“In the collective shock of a country at the death, life and death of Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, one man stands tall: his commanding officer, Col Um Bahadur Gurung of the Indian Army’s 19 Madras battalion,” The Telegraph reported.

Following a stint in the Indian Military Academy, Gurung was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps and was sent on attachment to 19 Madras.

The Telegraph reported Gurung’s superiors found that his skills were exceptional. “I found a special spark in him, especially in man management,” recalled Maj Gen Virendra Kumar (retired) who commanded the battalion between 1997 and 1999.

“He was a Gorkha but he was received very well by the Madrasis and after his excellent role in Mendhar on the Line of Control, everyone looked up to him.”

Gurung always had a never-say-die attitude

• Colonel (retired) Devdutt Patankar (Col Um Bahadur Gurung was his second-in-command when Patankar headed 19th Madras battalion from 2007 to 2009)

A foreign ministry spokesperson Deepak Adhikari said it was nice to know a Nepali serving in Indian Army was being praised for bravery.

Following the avalanche on February 3, Col Gurung told his men that nobody was to leave but that they should work in short bursts to both keep their bodies warm and continue the search, according to The Telegraph.

All through the operation he was between 19,600 and 20,000ft at all times, even through the nights, according to the report.

Maj Gen Kumar was all praise for Col Gurung. “Look what he has delivered today. Bodies have taken six-eight months to be found in the Siachen glacier.

There are many that are yet to be found,” the report quoted Kumar, who has also served as chief of staff in the Kashmir Valley (15) Corps, as saying.