Ten workers of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) died, seven are injured and 29 are missing following an avalanche in the Indo-China border region in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand on Friday.
The accident occurred in the Sumna area of Niti valley in Chamoli. According to officials, of the seven injured rescued from the site, six are being treated at the army hospital in Joshimath while one has been referred to Dehradun. According to the BRO, its team had reached the site of the avalanche where details of the incident and the persons affected are being ascertained.
The Director General of Police, Ashok Kumar, informed that a total of 430 BRO workers were at two sites when the avalanche occurred. Of these workers, 384 reached the ITBP and army camps safely. The Indo Tibetan Border Police and army camps at Sumna are safe, he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat along with State Minister for Disaster Management Dhan Singh Rawat undertook an aerial survey of the affected area on Saturday morning.
The CM told media persons in Chamoli that the army, ITBP, SDRF and NDRF teams are conducting rescue and relief works at the site which had been experiencing considerable snowfall.
The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel have progressed towards the site along with some teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
While the district administration is actively facilitating rescue and relief efforts, more NDRF teams at Ghaziabad are also on alert mode, said the CM.
Heavy snowfall in the area is affecting the rescue operations being carried out jointly by the ITBP, NDRF and the SDRF, Rawat added.