Uttarakhand glacier burst: 50 workers trapped in snow were taken out due to the avalanche of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) camp in Mana village of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, but four of them died on Saturday (1 March 2025). At the same time, four laborers are still buried in the glacier, due to which the rescue operation is going on for the third day. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has been called for searching for laborers.
According to the new rescue information provided by Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA), five laborers were missing, but one of them- Sunil Kumar of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh has reached the safe house himself, after which the remaining four laborers are being searched. According to the army, an avalanche occurred near the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath between 5:30 am on Friday (March 28, 2025), causing eight containers and 55 workers inside a shed. Till Friday night, 33 people were rescued and 17 people were rescued on Saturday.
Rescue operation started again
On Friday, due to rain and snowfall, rescue work was interrupted and the campaign was stopped due to night. District Disaster Management Officer NK Joshi said that after the weather was clear, the Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel posted in Mana started rescue operations in the morning.
6 helicopters engaged in rescue operations
Army spokesman Lt Col Manish Srivastava said that six helicopters are engaged in the rescue operation. He said that these include three Army, two Air Force and one rented helicopter rented by the army. Mana is the last village on the Indo-Tibet border, located at an altitude of 3,200 meters, three kilometers from Badrinath. The army spokesman said, “50 laborers have been rescued, out of which the death of four injured has been confirmed, while the search for the remaining is going on.” He said that the injured are being evacuated on priority basis.
What died?
The USDMA has also confirmed the death of four snow-fired laborers, in which a laborer was killed during treatment in Jyotirmath while three workers died in Badrinath-Mana. The USDMA said that the deceased have been identified as Mohindra Pal and Jitendra Singh of Himachal Pradesh, Manjit Yadav of Uttar Pradesh and Alok Yadav of Uttarakhand. It said that four laborers are still missing, including Harmesh Chand of Himachal Pradesh, Ashok of Uttar Pradesh and Anil Kumar and Arvind Singh of Uttarakhand.
Contact route due to snow blocked
Army officials said the rescue operations are mainly being operated by the army and Air Force helicopters, as the contact route has been blocked due to snow in many places, causing the movement of vehicles to be almost impossible. He said that the priority is to bring the saved workers to the military hospital in Jyotimath and search for four missing workers.
Lieutenant General said- movement by road is not possible
Officials said that 24 people were brought to the Army Hospital in an injured state and two of them have been sent to AIIMS Rishikesh. According to the spokesperson, Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Middle Command and Lieutenant General DG Mishra have reached the avalanche site to monitor the rescue operations. Lieutenant General Sengupta said that movement by road is not possible, as it is full of snow. He said that the Badrinath-Joshimath highway is blocked at 15-20 places.
GPR sought from Delhi to detect container
According to Sengupta, there were eight containers in the BRO camp, out of which five have been detected, while three have not been detected. He said that if the weather remains favorable, special radar, UAV, quadcopter and avalanche rescue dogs will be deployed to find out the missing workers, he said, “Everything depends on the weather.” Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority has said that it has sought the ground-collecting radar from Delhi to locate the missing workers. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami conducted an aerial survey of the affected area and directed the officials to expedite the rescue operations.
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