Soldiers of the Indian Army rescued a pregnant woman stuck in snowbound Kupwara in Kashmir and safely took her for about two kilometres in knee-deep snow till the hospital, the Indian Army said on Thursday.
Late on Tuesday, the Company Operating Base at Karalpura in Kupwara received a distress call from Manzoor Ahmed Sheikh saying his wife Shabnam Begum is undergoing labour pain and needs to be evacuated to the hospital immediately.
Neither community health service vehicle nor civil transport was available because of heavy snowfall and cold weather and taking the woman was only possible after the snow was cleared from the road.
Realising the seriousness of the situation and plight of the family, the army troops at Karalpura along with battlefield nursing assistants and medical comforts, reached the spot on time. The troops then escorted the woman and the family for about 2 km in knee-deep snow till the road head, from where she was taken to Karalpura hospital.
The woman was immediately attended to by the medical staff as soon they reached the hospital which was coordinated beforehand by the Army with the civil administration.
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The force said, "The family and the civil administration thanked the unit for its humanitarian efforts and recognised the Army as the true friend of Awam at the time of distress. The father came to the Company Operating Base to distribute sweets to all troops after being blessed with a boy.”
The force so far has evacuated more than two dozen pregnant women from the snow-bound areas in Kashmir.