Chamoli avalanche rescue concludes as 4 bodies recovered, death toll rises to 8

Dehradun:

The death toll from Friday’s avalanche tragedy near Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district climbed to eight, with four more bodies recovered from the disaster site on Sunday. Officials said that search and rescue operations were concluded with the recovery of the last missing worker’s body at 5.45 pm.

Meanwhile, the total number of border road construction workers who were affected by the avalanche was revised to 54 from 55 as it came to light that one of them, Sunil Kumar, had left the place before the avalanche hit their campsite.

Of the eight deceased, four were from Uttar Pradesh, two from Himachal Pradesh, and two from Uttarakhand. The bodies of seven have been dispatched to their respective places, according to officials.

Forty-six workers were rescued successfully by a team of over 200 personnel from the Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), district administration, and other state agencies. Of these, 44 are undergoing treatment at the army hospital in Jyotirmath while two were airlifted to the All India Insititute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh.

The avalanche hit the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp between Mana and Mana Pass between 5.30am and 6am on Friday, burying 54 workers inside eight containers and a shed, according to the army.

Thirty-three of them were rescued by Friday night before the rescue operation was suspended as rain and snowfall hampered the efforts. As the weather cleared up on Saturday morning, the team resumed the rescue operation. On Saturday, 17 more people were pulled out while four of the rescued workers were declared dead.

Lt Col Manish Srivastava, public relations officer, defence, Dehradun, said, “The rescue teams recovered bodies of four missing persons. It takes the death toll to eight. With the recovery of the last missing worker’s body at 5.45 pm, the search and rescue operations in Mana Avalanche was also concluded.”

“On Sunday, we were apprised by the (Chamoli) district administration and rescue teams that a missing worker, Sunil Kumar, had proceeded home before the accident and his family has confirmed that he is safe at home. The total number of workers affected by the avalanche incident has now been revised as 54, which was initially reported as 55,” he said.

“Many lives were saved due to the sustained and professional rescue operations conducted by joint efforts of Indian Army, Indian Air Force, ITBP, NDRF, Border Roads Organisation and agencies of the state government,” he said.

“Indian Army commends all the troops and personnel who carried out this rescue operation braving adverse weather and difficult geographical conditions,” he added.

Srivastava added, “Indian Army expresses its deepest condolences to the families of workers who lost their lives in this unfortunate natural calamity.”

“Eight helicopters were deployed to airlift all rescued workers from Army’s Mana post to Jyotirmath (previously Joshimath). To assist the rescue efforts, a drone-based intelligent buried object detection system was mobilised by Mi-17 helicopter from Delhi, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a quadrotor aerial vehicle and three mini remotely piloted aircraft drones were also employed,” he said.

The state agencies had also employed thermal imaging cameras and victim locating cameras on Sunday to assist the search and rescue efforts.

Chief minister Pushar Singh Dhami said rescuers worked on a war footing to save the construction workers and all possible resources, including modern technology and equipment such as ground penetrating radar, thermal imaging cameras, victim locating cameras were deployed at the avalanche hit site.

Praising the rescue teams, he said that it was due to their commendable efforts that 46 workers were safely rescued.

“All rescued workers should get proper medical treatment,” he said.

Dhami said that as the possibility of avalanche increases in February and March, his government has issued an advisory to send workers working in higher Himalayan region to safe places.