One soldier has been killed and four are missing after their tank met with an accident during a river-crossing exercise near the Line of Actual Control in Leh’s Daulat Beg Oldi area in the early hours of Saturday, officials said.

A Junior Commissioned Officer, or JCO, is among the five killed in the accident that happened around 1 am.

The soldiers were on a training mission and were crossing the Bodhi River near Mandir Morh, 148 kilometres from Leh, on their T-72 tank when suddenly the water levels began to rise, official sources said. Soon the tank and the soldiers were submerged in the swelling river, they added.

A rescue operation has been launched.

With inputs from NDTV