This handout photograph taken on April 12, 2012, and released by Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), shows army personnel taking surveying measurements as they search for avalanche victims. — Photo by AFP

SIACHEN: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday visited the Gayari base of the Siachen glacier to express solidarity with the military personnel and the teams trying to reach out to the 138 trapped soldiers hit by an avalanche.

President Zardari, accompanied by Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, witnessed the ongoing rescue operation at the Gayari base.

The president was given a briefing regarding the search operation. Prior to that, he took an aerial view of the avalanche.

President Zardari was scheduled to visit Siachen on Monday, which could not take place due to unsuitable weather conditions.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif visited Gilgit-Baltistan and paid tribute to the victims of the incident.

Nawaz had also announced a compensation of Rs500, 000 for each affected family and said the Punjab government was preparing a comprehensive package for them.

The incident occurred on April 7, 2012, when a huge wall of snow had crashed into the remote base high in the mountains in disputed Kashmir early in the morning, smothering an area of one square kilometre.

Over 100 soldiers at six different points on the site were trapped on the site at the time of the incident.