After six days of being presumed dead under 35 feet of snow on the Siachen glacier, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad survived, but he is currently in a comatose state in hospital in New Delhi.
As his family rushed to Delhi to be by his side and the villagers of Betadur, his native place in Hubballi district of Karnataka, waited anxiously, ordinary people in Bangalore and Chennai saluted his spirit and prayed for his recovery.
In Bangalore, student Akshay said:
Another student Vallari Parashar said:
Students in Chennai expressed their concern for Hanumanthappa