An army soldier who survived a deadly avalanche last week at the world’s highest battlefield Siachen, is stable and being treated at a hospital in Delhi.
It’s being called the ‘miracle on Siachen’, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa beat all odds to emerge alive from 25 feet below snow. But for his family and others in his village, their Hanumanthappa had to do it!
One of Hanumanthappa’s relative said, “We are all very happy, God has helped us. He is named after Hanuman, he trumped death.”
“He is Pawan Putra Hanuman and we know he will survive,” he added.
Lance Naik belongs to Betadur village in Kundagola taluka of Dharwad district. His wife Mahadevi, who heard the good news and expressed herself as, “I really don’t know what to say. I am so happy. I want to be with him immediately. I don’t know when the Army will take me to the hospital in Delhi. My husband’s grandmother inspired him in his life. Her prayers are with him. She actually saved him from certain death in Siachen. It is a rebirth for all of us.”
“When the avalanche struck they informed us. Our world came down crashing down that day. We had no hope. We have a one and half years old daughter. I did not know what to say. All of us were crying all the time. Last night, we came to know through TV channels that he was found alive and taken to Army hospital. For the first time after the horrific incident, we smiled,” she added.
The jawan’s mother Basamma, who couldn’t control her tears said, “He came into my dream and said he would return.”
Severely dehydrated and stiff, Hanamanthappa drifted in and out of consciousness as a doctor revived him last night. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited him at the Army Research and Referral hospital in Delhi, tweeted: “No words are enough to describe the endurance & indomitable spirit of Lance Naik Hanumanthappa. He is an outstanding soldier.”
