Chamoli: Rescue teams in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district recovered four more bodies on Sunday after an avalanche hit a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Mana village on Friday. This raised the death toll to eight.
Indian Army led the search operation using advanced equipment such as Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), sniffer dogs, thermal imaging cameras, and helicopters. Three army units were deployed to patrol the area and assist in rescue efforts.
ADGPI Indian Army tweeted, “Search and rescue operations at the Mana Avalanche site concluded today with 46 workers being rescued successfully who are currently being given necessary medical treatment. However, despite relentless efforts, day & night, through inclement conditions by the search and rescue parties, 8 lives could not be saved…”
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Sunday’s search began with the recovery of one BRO worker’s body, followed by two more later in the day and concluded after recovery of the last missing worker’s body. In total, 54 workers were rescued, but eight among them had died.
Avalanche and its aftermath
The avalanche struck the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath early on Friday morning, between 5.30 am and 6 am. At the time, 55 workers were inside eight containers and a shed. Initially, authorities believed that 55 workers were trapped, but later revised the number to 54 after learning that one worker from Himachal Pradesh had been on unauthorized leave and had safely returned home.
By Friday night, rescue teams had saved 33 workers, and by Saturday, 17 more were rescued. However, heavy snowfall and rain had slowed down the operations.
Officials had been trying to locate three missing containers buried under six feet of snow. District Disaster Management Officer Nand Kishore Joshi had said, “Five containers have been found, but three remain unaccounted for.”
Medical care for rescued workers
Army doctors provided medical care to the rescued workers. Out of the 46 workers brought to the military hospital in Joshimath, one with a spinal cord injury was airlifted to AIIMS, Rishikesh. Three workers remained in critical condition, said Lt Col DS Maldhya.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the State Emergency Operation Centre to assess the situation. He confirmed that the GPR system was being sent to the site, and modern tools like victim-locating cameras were being used. “We aimed to locate the missing workers by Sunday itself, as the weather could worsen on Monday,” he said.
Dhami also posted on X, urging officials to speed up the rescue operations. He assured that the Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and other teams were working tirelessly.
Deployment of resources
Chamoli district magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said that an Mi-17 helicopter in Dehradun was ready to transport the GPR system to the site. Meanwhile, six helicopters—three from the Army Aviation Corps, two from the Indian Air Force (IAF), and one civil chopper hired by the Army—were actively supporting the operation.
Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Central Command, and Lt Gen D G Mishra, GOC, Uttar Bharat, were at the site to oversee the operations.
More than 200 personnel from various departments, including the ITBP, BRO, NDRF, SDRF, IAF, district administration, health department, and fire brigade, were involved in the rescue mission.
Difficulties in rescue operations
Mana village, located at an altitude of 3,200 meters, was just three kilometers from Badrinath and was the last village before the India-Tibet border. Heavy snowfall had blocked the approach roads, making it difficult for vehicles to reach the site.
Army officials said that on Saturday, helicopters had to conduct most of the rescue work as ground access was nearly impossible.
Lt Gen Sengupta said that if the weather allowed, advanced technologies like RECCO radars, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), quadcopters, and avalanche rescue dogs would be used to find the missing worker. “Everything depended on the weather,” he said.
