FILE photo: Havildar Gaya Prasad
The Army has found the body of a soldier 18 years after he went missing on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir.
"The body was discovered in a frozen state last week," Superintendent of Police Sunil Gupta told news agency AFP by phone from Leh, 450 kilometres from Srinagar.
Mr Gupta said Havildar Gaya Prasad, whose body will be sent to his home in Uttar Pradesh, had likely been hit by an avalanche. The body was identified using papers in the soldier's pocket.
He will be cremated today in his village with full military honours.
At more than 18,000 feet (5,700 meters), Siachen is known as the world's highest battleground, and temperatures there can drop as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius. Havildar Prasad was collecting supplies dropped for troops by helicopters when he fell into a crevasse on December 9, 1996. Attempts to rescue him over three days were unsuccessful, Army sources told NDTV.
Havildar Prasad is survived by his father, Shri Gajadhar (retired Subedar), his wife and a son and daughter.