NEW DELHI: Sixteen soldiers were killed in India’s remote northeast on Friday when a military truck transporting them skidded down a steep mountain slope and crashed, the army said.

The accident occurred in the state of Sikkim while the truck carrying the soldiers was negotiating a treacherous turn in a mountainous area near the border with China.

“A rescue mission was immediately launched, and four injured soldiers have been air evacuated,” the Indian army’s eastern command said in a statement, confirming three officers and 13 soldiers had died of injuries after the accident.

Sikkim has some of India’s most dangerous high-altitude roads, particularly along its isolated Himalayan border with Tibet.

Accidents involving army vehicles near the vast boundary with China and Pak­istan leave many soldiers dead each year.

In August, six paramilitaries were killed in an accident in India-held Kashmir when an armoured vehicle carrying them rolled down a mountain slope.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2022