The commanding officer of the Chinese Unit involved in the violent face-off on the night of June 15-16, with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley is among those killed, sources confirmed to .
The increased movement of the Chinese helicopter at the face-off location showed that and Chinese suffered a significant number of casualties in the violent face-off.
"The assessment is based on the number of Chinese soldiers evacuated from the face-off location on stretchers and subsequently by ambulance vehicles on the track along the Galwan river, as also the increased Chinese helicopter movement," said sources.
"The troops who were part of the face-off told about a significant number of Chinese casualties. Although it is difficult to specify the exact number of casualties both killed and wounded, the number is estimated to be much beyond 40," sources added.
On Tuesday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that violent face-off happened on late evening and night of June 15 in Ladakh's Galwan Valley as a result of an attempt by the Chinese troops to "unilaterally change" the status quo during de-escalation and the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side.
Srivastava said both sides suffered casualties in the violent face-off and the Chinese side departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley.
Responding to media queries on the situation in the western sector of the India-China border, Srivastava said that India and China have been discussing through military and diplomatic channels the de-escalation of the situation in the border area in Eastern Ladakh.
( With inputs from ANI )