Wreath-laying ceremony held for nine soldiers killed in road accident in Ladakh

A wreath-laying ceremony was held in Leh on Monday for nine Army personnel who were killed when a vehicle carrying them skidded off the road and plunged into a deep gorge in the Union Territory of Ladakh last week.

The accident took place near Kiari in southern Ladakh's Nyoma on August 19, with only one soldier surviving the crash and is still undergoing treatment for critical injuries.

General Officer Commanding of the Army's Fire and Fury Corps, Lt Gen Rashim Bali, led the troops in paying homage to the slain personnel at a solemn wreath-laying ceremony.

"In a solemn wreath-laying ceremony, GOC Fire and Fury Corps and all ranks paid homage with full Military Honours to the Bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice, in the line of duty, at #Ladakh on 19 Aug 23," the Leh-based 14 Corps wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

It also shared several pictures of the GoC and other officers laying wreaths on the tricolour-wrapped coffins of the soldiers.

Leh-based Defence Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lt Col P S Sidhu said the mortal remains of the soldiers were flown to Chandigarh after the wreath-laying ceremony.

The bodies will be handed over to their next of kin for their last rites which will be performed at their native places with military honours, he said.

A police official identified the deceased soldiers as Naib Subedar Ramesh Lal, Lance Naik Tejpal Singh, gunners Manmohan Singh and Ankit of Haryana, Naik N Chandr Sekhar of Telangana, Havaldars Mahinder Singh Sikarwar of Madhya Pradesh and Vijay Kumar of Himachal Pradesh and Gunner Tarandeep Singh of Punjab and Gunner Bhoite Vaibhav Sampat of Maharashtra.