My heartfelt condolences to the families of the brave
soldiers who are no more. It is real unfortunate that
such luck befallen these brave men who were trying to
piece together the life of people in the remotest of
indian corner.
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http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=77819

Families wait as 33 Armymen feared dead in HP bridge
collapse
MANRAJ GREWAL & ASHWANI SHARMA
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Posted online: Friday, September 09, 2005 at 0233
hours IST

CHANDIGARH, SHIMLA, SEPTEMBER 8: Hope shines through
Manreet's tears. ``Is he alright? Do you have any news
about my husband?'' The dinner is laid on the table
but no one's eating. ``I will eat only after I hear
from Amardeep,'' says Manreet's mother-in-law.

At the Chandigarh home of Lt Col Amardeep Singh, one
of the 33 Army personnel swept away by the Sutlej
after the bridge they were working on collapsed today
at Kharo in Himachal's Kinnaur district, the family
can only wait.

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Only five Armymen managed to swim to safety. By
evening, the Himachal government confirmed 20 deaths
but was unable to explain what led to the collapse of
the bridge.

Sumit Khimta, Kinnaur's sub-divisional magistrate,
told The Indian Express over phone from Reckong Peo
that ``chances of finding survivors are nil, the
bridge simply crumbled.'' He, however, put the number
of personnel lost at 23. ``Only those working at the
two ends of the bridge managed to make it to the
banks.''

The bridge, crucial for strategic road communications
with Pooh, was nearing completion. The bridges at
Kharo, Akpa and Khab were among the dozen bridges
destroyed by the flash floods in Kinnaur two months
ago. The Army's 18 Engineers had sent a contingent of
some 40 jawans to build a Bailey bridge at Kharo three
weeks ago.

``The iron bridge was tested beforehand. But we are
told that the supporting pillars crumbled and the
entire bridge gave way,'' said a jawan at Zirakpur,
the regiment station on Chandigarh's outskirts.

He had just received a call from a fellow jawan's
family in Kerala. ``My friend is no more but how can I
tell them,'' he said. Only one of the missing jawan's
wife lives in the family quarters in Zirakpur, but she
too has not been told anything.

Sources in the Army said many of the bodies recovered
this evening had turned blue and were beyond
recognition. ``We cannot inform the families until we
are sure of their identities,'' an officer said.