Indian Army steps in to help pregnant woman deliver twin girls in snowbound Kashmir

A pregnant woman stuck in heavy snowfall safely delivered twins, thanks to the Indian Army which came to her aid in the nick of time and shifted her to the hospital in north Kashmir's Bandipore district.

On Friday, the company commander of Panar army camp of Bandipore received a call from a villager seeking help for evacuating his pregnant wife Gulshana Begum to the hospital, officials said on Sunday.

The weather conditions were precarious as it was snowing heavily and the temperature was minus seven they said. The snow had covered the roads, making it impossible for vehicular movement. Nevertheless, the lady needed to get to a hospital, they added.

The men of the Bandipore Rashtriya Rifles braved heavy snow and zero road accessibility, reached the residence of the lady in no time and carried her on a stretcher for two and a half kilometers on foot in waist-deep snow, they said.

She was then taken to the district hospital, Bandipore, in an army ambulance, the officials said.

Understanding the need for timely coordination with every minute that counts, the Army had already tied up with civil authorities and arranged for doctors at the hospital, they said.

After a check-up, it was conveyed that the lady was pregnant with twins and required a cesarean for which she was further rushed to Srinagar hospital, they added.

According to the officials, the woman safely delivered twin baby girls the same night.