Lance Naik Hanamanthappa Koppad, who was miraculously found alive after remaining buried under huge mass of snow for six days at the Siachen Glacier and two days at R&R Hospital in Delhi, passes away after his heroic battle with life.
He was found from under 35 feet of ice at an avalanche-hit army post in the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir -- six days after he and nine other soldiers were buried.
Hanamanthappa was serving in the high-altitude areas of Siachen glacier from August 2015.
He slipped into a deeper state of coma, as per latest medical bulletin. Also, his pneumonia worsened, blood clotting disorder shows no sign of reversal said the army doctors.
Doctors said, Hanamanthappa was on max life support with aggressive ventilation and dialysis.
His circulatory shock was refractory to all drugs in maximum permissible doses and kidneys were nonfunctional, said the army doctors.
The 33-year-old soldier of the 19th Battalion of Madras Regiment is survived by his wife Mahadevi Ashok Bilebal and two-year-old daughter Netra Koppad.
A resident of village Betadur in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Koppad had joined the army 13 years back.
The condition of Koppad, who was admitted to Army Research and Referral Hospital here on February 9, had deteriorated yesterday.
Dubbed as the 'miracle man', the soldier had managed to stay alive for six days buried under the snow after an avalanche struck their post on February 3.
His condition was reviewed by a team of doctors comprising critical care specialists, the HoD Dept of Medicine, a senior nephrologist, a senior neurologist of the army hospital and a panel of experts from AIIMS yesterday.
(with inputs from PTI)