FIFTY workers have been pulled out of snow from the site of an avalanche-hit BRO camp in the Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, but four of them died on Saturday as rescuers raced against time to save the remaining five. The avalanche hit the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp between Mana and Badrinath between 5:30 am and 6 am on Friday, burying 55 workers inside eight containers and a shed, according to the Army.

 

Thirty-three of them were rescued by Friday night and 17 on Saturday. Rain and snowfall hampered the rescue efforts on Friday, and the operation was suspended as the night fell. As the weather cleared up on Saturday morning, the Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel based in Mana resumed the rescue operation, District Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said. Six helicopters, including three of the Indian Army Aviation, two of the air forceandonecivilcopterhired by the Army, have been engaged in the operation, Army PRO Lt Col Manish Shrivastavasaid.Locatedthree kilometres from Badrinath, Mana is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.

 

“Fifty labourers have been rescued out of which, unfortunately, four injured have been confirmed as fatal casualties while the search for the remaining five is underway,” LtColShrivastavasaid,adding the injured were being prioritisedforevacuation.Armyofficials saidthe rescueoperation was being carried out mostly by the Army and IAF helicopters as the approach road had been blocked by snow at several points, making vehicular movement nearly impossible. The priority is to bring the rescued workers to the Army hospitalinJyotrimathandlook for the five workers still missing, they said. Officialssaid24peoplewere brought to the Army Hospital with injuries and one of them has been sent to AIIMSRishikesh. According to theArmyPRO, Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta GOC-in C Central Command and Lt GenDGMishra GOC UttarBharat have reached the avalanche site to monitor the rescue operations. Lt Gen Sengupta said movement by road is impossible since it is clogged by snow.

 

The Badrinath-Joshimathhighway is blocked at 15-20 places, he said. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami did an aerial survey of theavalanchehit site and reviewed the relief and rescue operations in Jyotirmath.Uponreturningto Dehradun,hesaidthereliefand rescueteamshavedoneacommendable job by rescuing 50 people so far. Officers have been instructed to carry on with the search for the five missingworkersona warfooting, Dhami said. Armysnifferdogshavebeen deployed to search for the missing containers and three teams of the Army are patrolling the area, the chief minister said. More than 200 personnel from the disaster management authority, ITBP, BRO, National Disaster ResponseForce,StateDisaster Response Force, Indian Air Force,districtadministration, health department and fire brigadeareengagedintherescueoperations, he said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took an update on the rescue operation overthe phone and assured all possible help from the central agencies, Dhami said. About the medical treatment of those rescued,he said theinjuredworkerswerebeing treated at Army hospitals in Mana and Jyotirmath while AIIMS-RishikeshandSrinagar MedicalCollegehavebeenput on alert.