The body of one of the 4 missing BRO workers has been recovered today, as per latest updates on the rescue operations following Friday’s Uttarakhand avalanche that buried 54 people in a Border Roads Organisation camp. Of them, 46 had been rescued by Saturday; 4 were reported dead; and 4 were reported missing. After Sunday’s recovery of one more body, 3 are now missing.
The number of avalanche-hit labourers has been revised now from 55 to 54, as one of them from Himachal Pradesh, who was on unauthorised leave without telling his employers, has reached home safely. So far, 51 labourers have been pulled out of the snow; of them, 5 are dead.
The X handle of Surya Command, Indian Army, posted at 12.45pm on March 2: “UPDATE: AVALANCHE AT MANA: 1245h/2 MAR 25. One more body recovered by the rescue teams. Search and rescue operations in coordination with all agencies, to locate balance three labourers still feared trapped under the snow, continue unabated under the supervision and coordination of Commander IBEX Brigade at site.”
The X post said: “All necessary equipment and resources including search dogs have been deployed to affect recovery in earliest timeframe. 46 rescued labourers, after evacuation from Mana, are being given medical treatment at Military Hospital Joshimath. Their health condition is stable and currently under recovery.”
As search operations resumed on Sunday morning, at the site of an avalanche-hit BRO camp in Mana village in Chamoli district in the state, Chamoli District Magistrate (DM) Sandeep Tiwari said that the search operation was expected to gain pace as the weather was clear and a ground penetrating radar (GPR) system from Delhi was expected to arrive any moment to aid the efforts.
An Mi-17 helicopter was waiting in Dehradun to fly the GPR system to the avalanche site, he said in the morning.
Six helicopters — three of the Indian Army Aviation Corps; two of the Indian Air Force (IAF); and a civilian chopper hired by the Army — have been engaged in the rescue operation.
Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, GOC-in C, Central Command, and Lt Gen D G Mishra, GOC, Uttar Bharat, have reached the avalanche site to monitor the rescue operations.
DM Tiwari said that the operation was now focused on tracing the missing workers and evacuating the workers still stranded.
State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams with a sniffer dogs were at the avalanche site to help in the search and rescue efforts, he said.
Located 3km from Badrinath, Mana is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.
