Thirty-three of a total of 55 BRO workers trapped under an avalanche in the high-altitude village of Mana in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district have been rescued, with concerns over the safety of the remaining 22 mounting as night fell on the snowbound slopes and the rescue efforts came to a temporary halt.Updating the information on the rescue operations here, Uttarakhand’s Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said 33 trapped labourers have been rescued and 22 remain to be traced amid adverse weather conditions.
Correcting the information shared earlier, Suman said it was subsequently found out that two of the 57 labourers feared trapped in the avalanche at the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp were on leave and the actual number of workers trapped was 55.
While 33 of them have been rescued, 22 are yet to be traced, he added.
According to a list released by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority, the trapped labourers are from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, among other states. The list has 10 labourers’ names, without mentioning the states they belong to.
Suman agreed that the task is challenging as there is seven feet of snow near the avalanche site. However, more than 65 personnel are engaged in the rescue operations, he added.
The snowslide, which buried the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath, rolled down early on Friday morning. Multiple teams battled through the tough terrain, heavy snow and icy temperatures to reach the trapped labourers. They initially pulled out 10 of them and then the others, sources said.