Two persons were killed while 16 others, including a child, badly frostbitten were rescued in the nick of time by Air force helicopters on Thursday from a convoy trapped by landslides and blizzards North of Rothang Pass on the Leh-Manali National Highway in Himachal Pradesh. An Air Force spokesman said following an SOS from the Himachal Government last night about a civilian convoy carrying an estimated 35 people being stranded on the highway, three helicopters from the IAF Western Air Command, one Larger MI-17iv and two smaller Chetak helicopters were pressed into action this morning. "The choppers flying low after an hour long search all along the Rohtang Pass found six vehicles trapped in snow at Batal about 30 kms from Rohtang and followed human tracks on the fresh snow to a guesthouse further six kms ahead", he said. Noticing some movements near the abandoned guesthouse, the spokesman said the helicopters landed nearby and immediately evacuated 16 persons including a child, who were found to be badly frost-bitten and in a near coma stage. All the rescued people were flown to Kullu and admitted to the local hospital, he said adding the condition of some were grave. Earlier, eyewitnesses, who included some mountain guides had reported that the convoy was carrying 35 people. Bureau Report