Dehradun | Forty-one BRO workers were trapped under an avalanche near the high altitude border village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Friday, officials said. The snowslide had initially buried 57 men but 16 were rescued.
The avalanche buried a camp of the Border Roads Organisation between Mana and Badrinath, Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said.
Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.
"Out of the 57 BRO labourers trapped in the avalanche, 16 have been rescued. Efforts are on to rescue the rest. The help of ITBP and other departments is being taken in the rescue operations. Our disaster management department and the entire administration is fully alert," Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters.
"Our effort is to rescue all safely as soon as possible," he said Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and SDRF left for the spot amid continuing snowfall and rain.
Officials had been on alert for bad weather and its possible impact.
The Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE) in Chandigarh had issued an avalanche warning for a period of 24 hours at 5 pm on Thursday for places located above 2,400 metres in Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts.
The MeT office in Dehradun also predicted isolated heavy rain and snowfall in locations situated at 3,500 metres and above in these districts on Friday morning. Following this, the State Emergency Operations Centre here alerted concerned district magistrates.
In an earlier post on X, Dhami said, "Received the sad news about several labourers getting trapped in an avalanche which occurred near Mana village during construction work being carried out by the BRO." "ITBP, BRO and other rescue teams have launched relief and rescue operations.
I pray to lord Badri Vishal for the safety of all the labourers," Dhami said in the post.
Uttarakhand avalanche: NDRF rushes 4 teams.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Friday said it is rushing four teams to Uttarakhand's border district of Chamoli where 41 BRO labourers have been trapped under an avalanche.
NDRF Director General (DG) Piyush Anand told PTI that apart from these teams, another four units have been kept on standby.
"The rescue mission has been activated and the Union home minister (Amit Shah) has directed for a quick response. Four NDRF teams are being rushed (to the spot)," he said.
Officials said two of these four teams have been rushed from a nearby regional response centre (RRC) of the NDRF in Dehradun while the other two have been diverted from Joshimath, where they were undertaking a familiarisation exercise.
The snowslide had initially buried 57 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) labourers but 16 were pulled out safely.
The labourers were working to clear snow near the high altitude border village of Mana in Chamoli when the avalanche hit their camp between Mana and Badrinath, according to officials.
Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.