Heavy snowfall in Uttarakhand resulting in an avalanche led to at least 41 Border Roads Organisation workers (BRO) being buried in the high altitude border village of Mana, Chamoli district on Friday. The workers were clearing snow when they were trapped. The snowslide had initially buried 57 men but 16 were pulled out safely. There was no immediate news of casualties and rescue efforts were on.
Later, 32 of total 57 workers were rescued on Friday, sources said. The avalanche has buried a camp of the BRO between Mana and Badrinath and multiple teams battled tough terrain, heavy snow and rain to rescue the workers, sources said. Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.
It was also learnt rescue operations have been halted due to bad weather and the impending danger of more avalanches.
It will restart when the weather improves, sources said.
Himachal Pradesh and higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir also saw snowfall and rain. Several northern states including Delhi, Punjab and Haryana received rainfall leading to a dip in temperature.
As regards the mishap in Uttrakhand, the avalanche buried a camp of the BRO between Mana and Badrinath, Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said as multiple teams battled tough terrain, heavy snow and rain to rescue the workers.
Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said all efforts were being taken to rescue the trapped personnel by utilising all available resources. Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and took stock of the trapped people under an avalanche, saying the government’s priority is to safely evacuate all those who are out of reach.
According to the district magistrate, the 57 labourers were at the camp when the avalanche struck between Mana and Mana pass in the morning.
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.
“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,” Dhami informed the media.
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 five 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.
In New Delhi, NDRF said it is rushing four teams to Chamoli.
Chief of NDRF Piyush Anand said apart from these teams, another four units have been kept on standby.
Rains pounded Jammu and Himachal Pradesh for the third day on Friday, prompting authorities to close schools in several districts. The mercury dropped in most parts of Punjab and Haryana due to the rain.
The strategic 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national highway, which was closed around 7 pm on Thursday, also remained closed due to snow accumulation between Ramsoo and Qazigund, and shooting stones, landslides and mudslides at various places between Nashri and Banihal. Overnight snowfall affected rail, air and road connectivity in Kashmir, according to officials.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday extended the winter vacations for schools in the Valley and winter zone areas of the Jammu division by six days in view of the weather conditions.
