Three soldiers lost their lives after an avalanche struck their camp in Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield.

Sources said the soldiers remained trapped in the snow for hours, and their bodies were retrieved in a daring operation. An officer is believed to have been rescued alive. Officials said the three slain soldiers included two Agniveers.

The Ladakh-based Fire and Fury Corps identified the three men as Sepoy Mohit Kumar, Agniveer Niraj Kumar Choudhary and Agniveer Dabhi Rakesh Devabhai. They belong to Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand.

Casualties among soldiers in weather-related accidents are not uncommon in Ladakh. A lieutenant colonel and a soldier were killed and three officers injured when a massive boulder crushed their vehicle in Ladakh in June. The two were identified as Lieutenant Colonel Bhanu Pratap Singh and Lance-Dafadar Daljeet Singh. In May, seven soldiers lost their lives and 19 were injured when their vehicle skidded off the road and fell into the Shyok river.

The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the ninth day on Tuesday. Chief minister Omar Abdullah urged the Centre to arrange special trains to Kashmir to ferry essential items amid reports of scarcity in the Valley.