Pakistani rescuers resume search for 139 trapped in avalanche

(CNN) -- Rescue crews continued their frantic search Sunday at a Himalayan military outpost near the Indian border where a massive avalanche buried up to 139 people, most of them Pakistani soldiers. A blanket of rock and snow covering one square kilometer -- about the size of a large city block -- slid over the base on the Siachen glacier early Saturday morning, entombing it under 70 feet of snow. The Siachen Glacier, known as the world's highest battleground, is 6,300 meters (20,670 feet) high and spans 77 kilometers (47 miles) across the Line of Control that separates India- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. A press release Sunday from the Pakistani military indicated that 139 people were believed trapped in the avalanche -- a figure that is slightly higher than previously reported. None of the searches thus far has led to the discovery of any survivors, and poor weather has hampered such efforts. "It's a very massive scale slide," Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Saturday. "They are under the slide, but we haven't lost hope. The rescue work is on, and we are keeping our fingers crossed." Crews flew in heavy machinery from neighboring Rawalpindi. Sniffer dogs and troops using bulldozers worked the ground. Abbas said the military had not been able to establish contact with anyone inside the base since the avalanche.