Search for 22 workers continues in Chamoli, condition of 4 admitted in hospital is critical, know what is the situation after 24 hours

Amid heavy snowfall in the high altitude areas of Uttarakhand, 33 out of 55 Border Roads Organisation (BRO) workers stranded there due to an avalanche near the border Mana village in Badrinath in Chamoli district in the early hours of Friday were rescued safely while the search for 22 others is on.

State Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said here that earlier 57 workers were reported to be stranded in the avalanche incident that occurred six kilometers ahead of Badrinath Dham, but now the local administration has told that there were 55 workers on the spot as two workers were on leave. He said that by 5 pm 32 workers were evacuated safely while another worker was evacuated late at night.

CM reviewed

Suman said, “Thus, a total of 33 workers have been evacuated so far while the search for 22 others is on.” Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami once again reached the State Disaster Operations Center late at night and reviewed the rescue operations. He directed to involve helicopters of the Air Force as well as helicopters of the state government agency ‘YUKADA’ and private companies in the rescue operations from Saturday morning.

The Chief Minister said, “We will do whatever is possible for the safe return of every worker.” CM Dhami may also visit the spot on Saturday to take stock of the avalanche rescue operations. The avalanche occurred around 7.15 am, due to which the workers were buried in the snow. These workers regularly do the work of removing snow for the movement of the army.

Workers admitted to hospital

After receiving information about the incident, employees of police, army, Border Roads Organisation, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, State Disaster Response Force and Disaster Management Department reached the spot and started rescue and relief operations amid bad weather, continuous snowfall and severe cold. Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said that 10 workers had already been found by the Army and ITBP team and they are currently in the ITBP hospital.

The Army Public Relations Officer said that out of the 10 people found earlier, four are in critical condition. Mana, about three kilometers from Badrinath, is the last village on the Indo-Tibetan border, which is located at an altitude of 3200 meters. In the pictures coming from Mana, rescue workers are seen passing through high piles of snow in a white landscape.

What did Union Home Minister Amit Shah say

The Army said that after the avalanche, the ‘Ibex Brigade’, specially trained for rescue operations at high altitudes, was immediately activated. This team also included doctors and ambulances. Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that rescuing the stranded people is the priority of the government. In a post on ‘X’, he said that he has spoken to Chief Minister Dhami, ITBP and Director Generals of National Disaster Response Force regarding the incident.

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said that all efforts are being made to rescue the stranded people using all available resources. The NDRF said that it has sent four of its teams to Chamoli. NDRF Director General Piyush Anand said that apart from these, four other units have been asked to be ready.

Teams engaged in rescue work since morning

Chamoli Disaster Management Officer NK Joshi said that the Army and ITBP teams present in Mana have been engaged in rescue work since morning, but the teams sent from outside are stuck on the way due to bad weather. The villagers of Mana say that the place where the accident happened has been considered dangerous in winter from the point of view of avalanches, so earlier people were removed from this camp and kept in Badrinath.

Mana village head Pitambar Singh said that this time the camp was not closed due to no snowfall and due to this the workers fell prey to the accident. Badrinath Dham is situated at the foothills of Nar and Narayan mountains, in the middle of which flows the Alaknanda river. The accident happened due to an avalanche on Nar mountain.