Uttarakhand Avalanche: 32 out of 57 trapped workers rescued

Thirty-two of the 57 Border Roads Organisation workers trapped under an avalanche near the high altitude border village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district were rescued on Friday, sources said.

The avalanche has buried a camp of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) between Mana and Badrinath and multiple teams battled tough terrain, heavy snow and rain to rescue the workers. There was no immediate news of any casualties.

Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.

Sources said 32 people have been rescued safely from the avalanche site and brought to the ITBP camp in the Mana village for treatment. According to them, rescue operations have been halted due to bad weather and the impending danger of more avalanches.
It will restart when the weather improves, they said.

Two mild avalanches followed the one which hit the BRO camp and the rescue operation has been halted, the sources said, adding the site is vulnerable to avalanches during winter.

The head of Mana village told PTI that in the past, this camp used to get shifted to Badrinath during winter. The camp was not shifted this time due to scant snowfall, he said.

Badrinath Dham is situated on the foothills of the Nar and Narayan mountains and the Alaknanda river flows between the two. The avalanche occurred at the Nar mountain.