ꦓFifty-five Border Roads Organisation (BRO) labourers were trapped under several feet of snow in the high-altitude after an avalanche hit Mana village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Friday and Sandeep Tewari, DC Chamoli, said that so far 47 of them were saved only eight are yet to be rescued. Rescuers resumed the search operation for the trapped labourers on Saturday morning as the weather cleared up.
🍸Choppers have been roped in for the operation due to the clear weather, an official told PTI.
🌌A snowslide trapped the 55 labourers at the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath on Friday and till earlier reports, 33 of them were rescued. Rain and snowfall hampered the rescue efforts and the operation was suspended as the night fell.
✱Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will visit the avalanche site and as per officials, PM Modi spoke to him to take stock of the situation.
𓄧Private and IAF choppers will aid the rescue efforts on Saturday if the weather permits. The nearest airstrip at Gauchar has been readied for the purpose, Chamoli District Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said.
🦩It is a little cloudy at the moment but once the weather becomes favourable, the helicopters will be pressed into service, he said.
♏Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel based in Mana have resumed the rescue operation, he added.
ꦏA let-up in rain and snowfall can help speed up efforts to trace the 22 labourers who have been trapped under the snow for more than 24 hours now.
Rescue Mission So Far
🌌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.
ꦓThe list has 10 labourers' names, without mentioning the states they belong to.
🎃Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said on Friday that the task is challenging as there is seven feet of snow near the avalanche site.
⭕More than 65 personnel are engaged in the rescue operations, he said.
๊Located three kilometres from Badrinath, Mana is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.
