Uttarakhand: Major accident due to avalanche in Chamoli, soldiers rescued 16 people and 41 workers are still trapped

Chamoli Avalanche: 57 BRO labours, who were removing snow in the high altitude area near Mana, a border village in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, got buried under the snow after an avalanche hit on Friday, out of which 16 labourers were rescued safely. Officials gave this information. State Chief Secretary Radha Raturi told that the roadside huts of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) labourers engaged in construction work got hit by the avalanche. She told that 57 labourers were buried under the snow due to the avalanche, out of which 16 were rescued safely.

He said that the work of removing 41 other buried laborers is going on. Mana, about three kilometers from Badrinath, is the last village on the Indo-Tibet border, which is located at an altitude of 3200 meters. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that every effort is being made to rescue the laborers buried under the snow using all available resources. He said in a post on 'X', "An unfortunate avalanche occurred in Mana area of ​​​​Joshimath (Uttarakhand) on Friday, affecting the GREF (General Reserve Engineering Force) camp of BRO. Spoke to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami about the current situation.

The administration is providing all possible assistance to the affected.

He said rescue efforts were also underway by local units of the army. Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said 57 labourers were in the camp when the avalanche struck between Mana and Mana Pass in the morning. "These labourers regularly carry out snow clearance work on the route used by the army for movement towards the Tibet border... so far we have no reports of any casualties. Rescue operations are underway. But rescue operations have been affected due to snowfall and rain in the area," he said.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters, "Out of 57 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) workers buried in snow due to 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 operation. Our disaster management department and administration are fully alert. He said that our effort is to rescue everyone safely as soon as possible. The Chief Secretary said that as soon as the information was received, employees of Police, Army, Border Roads Organisation, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), State Disaster Response Force and Disaster Management Department reached the spot and started rescue and relief work. Raturi said that due to bad weather and continuous falling snow, rescue work is facing difficulties. He said that due to bad weather, helicopter services are not available in the rescue work.

 

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister himself reached the State Disaster Operations Center to get information about the incident and is holding a high-level meeting with senior officials. Apart from the Chief Secretary, Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey and Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman, officials of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police are also present in the meeting. The Chandigarh-based Defense Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE) had issued an avalanche warning for a period of 24 hours at places located at an altitude of more than 2,400 meters in Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts at 5 pm on Thursday. The Dehradun-based Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rain and snowfall at places located at an altitude of 3,500 meters and above in these districts on Friday morning.

News is originally taken from: https://bit.ly/3DcHaSY

 

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