32 of 57 BRO workers trapped under avalanche in Uttarakhand rescued

The avalanche has buried a camp of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) between Mana and Badrinath and multiple teams battled tough terrain, heavy snow and rain to rescue the workers

Dehradun, Feb 28 (PTI) Thirty-two of the 57 BRO workers trapped under an avalanche in the high-altitude village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district have been rescued, concern over the safety of the other 25 mounting as night fell on the snowbound slopes and rescue efforts came to a temporary halt. 

The snowslide, which buried a Border Roads Organisation camp between Mana and Badrinath, rolled down early on Friday morning. Multiple teams battled through tough terrain, heavy snow and icy temperatures through the day to reach the men. They initially pulled out 10 workers and then the others, sources said.

  Four of those rescued are reported to be in a critical condition, the Army PRO said. All 32 have been taken to the ITBP camp in Mana for treatment, the sources said.

  Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.

Visuals from Mana showed rescuers trudging through high piles of snow in a grim landscape bathed in white.

Rescue operations were stopped in view of continuing bad weather and the impending danger of more avalanches in Mana. Two mild avalanches had followed the main one.

  The avalanche hit around 7.15 am, burying the workers inside eight containers and one shed, the Army said. Its swift response teams, comprising more than 100 people from the Ibex Brigade, especially trained in high altitude rescue operations, were immediately mobilised. The team included doctors and ambulances.

  According to Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman, the situation is critical with the  containers buried under six to seven feet of snow. The bad weather continues.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and SDRF left for the spot, about 300 km from the state capital Dehradun, amid continuing snowfall and rain.

  Home Minister Amit Shah said rescuing the trapped people is the government's priority. In a post on X, he said he had talked to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and the DGs of the ITBP and the NDRF.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said all efforts were being taken to rescue the trapped personnel by utilising all available resources. "An unfortunate avalanche has occurred in the Mana area of Joshimath (Uttarakhand) today impacting a GREF camp of BRO. Spoke to CM Shri @pushkardhami regarding the situation. The administration is providing all assistance to the affected,” he said in a post on X.

  The NDRF said it rushed four teams to Chamoli. Besides, another four units have been kept on standby, NDRF Director General (DG) Piyush Anand told PTI.

  Officials said two teams were rushed from the regional response centre (RRC) of the NDRF located in Dehradun while the other two were diverted from Joshimath, about 50 km from Mana, where they were undertaking a familiarisation exercise.

The rescue operations are fraught with challenges with no let-up in snowfall and rain and the darkness.

  Chamoli's disaster management officer NK Joshi said the Army and ITBP teams stationed in Mana have been engaged in rescue operations since morning but those being sent from outside are stuck on the way due to bad weather.

Villagers in Mana said the site of the accident is considered vulnerable to avalanches in winter and the BRO camp is usually closed.

  “This time the camp was not closed due to lack of snowfall due to which they became victims of the avalanche,” Mana village headman Pitambar Singh told PTI.

  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.

  Giving details of the rescue operation, Brigade Commander Mandeep Dhillon said seven officers, 17 JCOs and 150 other ranks worked from 8 am to conduct rescue operations. "The team is working relentlessly in challenging conditions to save lives of the trapped personnel. There is also a specialised medical team of three doctors, four ambulances and an engineer team... working to rescue the trapped personnel and also to open the route between Mana and Joshimath," he said.

Chief Minister Dhami had told reporters earlier in the day that 16 of the trapped labourers had been rescued.

  "Our effort is to rescue all safely as soon as possible," he said 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." “I pray to lord Badri Vishal for the safety of all the labourers," Dhami said in the post.

  Workers from Jharkhand are also among those feared trapped under an avalanche, an official said. However, the exact number is not known.

  "There have been reports of several workers working under BRO in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district being trapped under a broken glacier," Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in a post on X.