The Snow and Avalanche Studies Establishment (SASE) has issued a warning to the people in the state of Jammu and Kashmir relating to possible avalanche in certain areas.

SASE warned people to restrict movements in the identified areas for the twenty four hours. It described the areas as "high danger," and asked the citizens to avoid movements during snowfall and in avalanche prone areas.

The Disaster Management Cell in the state has also issued a warning to the citizens and army units deployed on the high mountain areas.

The warning has been issued for the areas namely Drass, Bimbat, Kaksar, Batalic, Minamarg, Sonamarg, Gagangir, Banihal-Lower Munda, Uri, Baaz, higher reaches of Gulmarg and slopes of Khilanmarg. Tangdhar, SM Hill, Furkian top, Machal, Z-gali, Dhudi, Dawar, Gurez, Razdan pass, Kanzalwan, Niru-baruab, Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri & Poonch for the threat of avalanches.

The army has its own SASE unit with 40 observatories in various regions of the state. The SASE regularly issues such warnings to the units deployed in high-altitude areas.

Despite warning from the SASE, the HAWS sent a batch of around 300 to 400 Army personnel for the Khilanmarg camp on Monday. The region was experiencing heavy snow fall and an incident left 17 soldiers dead and 18 critically wounded.

The spokesperson Lt Col J S Brar admitted that the warning was issued, however he said that the exercise was routine and the area incident did not happen in an avalanche-prone area.