CIA’s huge nuclear device was lost during the war, putting millions of people on the banks of the Ganges-Padma at risk

CIA's huge nuclear device was lost during the war, putting millions of people on the banks of the Ganges-Padma at risk

A generator named Snap-19C weighing 13 kg.

During the height of the Cold War, the US Central Intelligence Agency CIA conducted a secret operation in the Nanda Devi mountain in the Himalayas in 1965. The purpose was to monitor China's missile tests. But the outcome of that operation was terrible and mysterious. A plutonium-powered nuclear device was lost there, which has not been recovered to this day.

China had just tested a nuclear bomb. In this context, the CIA decided to install a nuclear-powered antenna on a high peak in the Himalayas adjacent to the India-China border. It used a generator named Snap-19C weighing 13 kg, which contained dangerous plutonium. Its amount was one-third of the atomic bomb used in Nagasaki.

American and Indian mountaineers were involved in this secret operation. The expedition was led by Indian Army officer Captain M. S. Kohli. A fierce snowstorm hit at the last moment of the expedition, which began in September 1965. To save their lives, the climbers were forced to hide their equipment in a snow-covered crevice near Camp Four and descend.

Although a rescue operation was launched the following year, everything was destroyed by then. It is believed that the entire iceberg including the equipment fell down in a heavy avalanche. Despite the use of radiation detection equipment and infrared sensors, no trace of the plutonium device was found.

Although the matter was kept secret for a long time, the matter came to light in 1978 through the investigation of journalist Howard Cohn. After that, there was intense anger in India. Protesters alleged that this device could pollute the source of the Ganges River, which is related to the lives of millions of people. The Ganges River, which originates from the Himalayan peaks, enters Bangladesh and takes the name Padma.

The US and Indian governments rarely speak publicly about the incident. However, former US President Jimmy Carter and then Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai quietly handled the matter.

Today, six decades later, that nuclear device may lie intact under a huge glacier in the Himalayas - which remains a dark, dangerous and regrettable chapter in history.

News from NDTV.