A dramatic rescue operation by a multipronged team of defence personnel earlier this week ensured that a young soldier whose left hand was severed in an accident in Ladakh could undergo timely surgery in which the hand was reattached.
Sources in the defence establishment said that on the night of 9 April, the soldier was severely wounded while operating a machine in the challenging terrain of Ladakh. His left hand was chopped off in the accident.
His compatriots tied a band to his wounded arm to stem the bleeding, put the severed part in a bag of ice, and swiftly evacuated him to the Military Garrison Hospital in Leh.