Avalanche buries BRO camp in Uttarkhand; 32 workers rescued, 25 still trapped

Thirtytwo of the 57 BRO workers trapped under an avalanche in the highaltitude village of Mana in Uttarakhands 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 haltThe 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 saidFour 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 saidMana three kilometres from Badrinath is the last village on the IndiaTibet border at a height of 3200 metresVisuals from Mana showed rescuers trudging through high piles of snow in a grim landscape bathed in whiteRescue 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 oneThe avalanche hit around 715 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 ambulancesAccording 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 continuesTeams 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 rainHome Minister Amit Shah said rescuing the trapped people is the governments 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 NDRFDefence Minister Rajnath Singh said all efforts were being taken to rescue the trapped personnel by utilising all available resourcesAn 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 XThe NDRF said it rushed four teams to Chamoli Besides another four units have been kept on standby NDRF Director General DG Piyush Anand told PTIOfficials 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 exerciseThe rescue operations are fraught with challenges with no letup in snowfall and rain and the darknessChamolis 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 weatherVillagers in Mana said the site of the accident is considered vulnerable to avalanches in winter and the BRO camp is usually closedThis 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 PTIOfficials had been on alert for bad weather and its possible impactThe 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 2400 metres in Chamoli Uttarkashi Rudraprayag Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districtsThe MeT office in Dehradun also predicted isolated heavy rain and snowfall in locations situated at 3500 metres and above in these districts on Friday morningFollowing this the State Emergency Operations Centre here alerted concerned district magistratesGiving 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 operationsThe 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 saidChief Minister Dhami had told reporters earlier in the day that 16 of the trapped labourers had been rescuedOur effort is to rescue all safely as soon as possible he saidIn 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 BROI pray to lord Badri Vishal for the safety of all the labourers Dhami said in the postWorkers from Jharkhand are also among those feared trapped under an avalanche an official said However the exact number is not knownThere have been reports of several workers working under BRO in Uttarakhands Chamoli district being trapped under a broken glacier Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in a post on XThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever