Indian soldier’s body found 38 years after he went missing on Siachen glacier

An Indian soldier's body was found 38 years after he was missing after an avalanche on the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen Glacier.

The Northern Command of the Indian Army said the corpse of Chandrashekhar Harbola was found in a bunker by an army patrol in the eastern Karakoram mountain range of the Himalayas.

He went missing on May 29th, 1984, during the Siachen conflict between India and Pakistan.

The army said a soldier's identification disk bearing his army number was found with his remains.

The army said he made the ultimate sacrifice and his remains had been handed over to his family.

The glacier has been the centre of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, with both countries asserting sovereignty over the region that separates Pakistan from China.

Thousands of soldiers have died on the Siachen Glacier since India launched its Operation Meghdoot offensive in 1984.

Almost all deaths have been caused by avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure.

One of the worst disasters on the glacier was in 2012 when 140 Pakistani soldiers were killed at the high-altitude Gayari base.

In 2016, an Indian soldier was found dead six days after he was buried by a deadly avalanche on the glacier that killed nine soldiers.