Uttarakhand avalanche: One dead, 49 rescued; search continues for remaining 5

A labourer died and 49 were pulled out alive from the snow that engulfed a BRO camp in the highaltitude Mana village in Uttarakhands Chamoli district as rescuers raced against time to find survivors on Saturday Five workers remain trappedThirtythree labourers were rescued by Friday nightThe avalanche hit the Border Roads Organisation BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath between 530 am and 6 am on Friday burying 55 workers inside eight containers and a shed according to the ArmyRain and snowfall hampered the rescue efforts on Friday and the operation was suspended as the night fellAs the weather cleared up on Saturday choppers joined the operationChief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami conducted an aerial survey of the affected area and directed officials to speed up the rescue operationPrime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Dhami and assured him of full supportDistrict Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said Army and IndoTibetan Border Police ITBP personnel based in Mana resumed the rescue operation in the morningA labourer died at the avalanche site sources saidOfficials said 49 labourers have been rescued alive and a search is underway for the remaining fiveEleven of the rescued labourers have been brought to the Army hospital in Jyotirmath Of them one is critical some have fractures and others have minor injuriesVitals of all of them except one are stable and necessary investigations are being done by specialist doctors at the hospital Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari saidThe weather is turning bad again and could slow down the rescue operation However Army helicopters are making sorties and if the weather remains favourable we will soon be able to find the remaining eight labourers he saidDhami conducted an aerial survey of the avalanchehit area He also interacted with an injured labourer who was being airlifted to Jyotirmath for treatmentTook stock of the situation by conducting an aerial survey of the avalanche area near Mana in Chamoli district Dhami said in a post on XHe said he instructed officials to ensure that the relief and rescue work is conducted quickly and effectivelyOur government is working promptly for the safety of the affected workers he addedIn another post the chief minister said that PM Modi spoke to him on the phone about the situation in ChamoliRespected Prime Minister Shri narendramodi ji spoke on the phone and took information about the rescue operation being carried out to safely evacuate the workers trapped in Mana in Chamoli districtHe also sought detailed information on the situation of rain and snowfall in the state During the conversation the prime minister assured that the central government will provide all possible assistance to the state to deal with any emergency Dhami saidLocated three kilometres from Badrinath Mana is the last village on the IndiaTibet border at a height of 3200 metresThis 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