Dehradun, March 02(HS): 50 workers have been pulled out of snow brought in by an avalanche at a BRO camp in the high-altitude Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, but four of them died on Saturday as rescuers raced against time to save the remaining five labourers.
Out of the five workers missing so far, one worker from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh has reached his home safely. Relief and rescue teams are working on a war footing to search for four other workers. Search operation will also be conducted with the help of GPR on Sunday. The help of army sniffer dogs is being taken.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took an update on relief and rescue operations from Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman and District Magistrate Chamoli Sandeep Tiwari late on Saturday evening. He has given instructions to conduct a large-scale search and rescue operation to search for the missing workers. At the same time, 04 workers have died tragically after being caught in the avalanche.
On the instructions of the Chief Minister, relief and rescue operations were conducted till late evening on Saturday to search for the four missing workers. Intensive reconnaissance is being done by the Indian Army, ITBP as well as NDRF, SDRF.
Search operation will also be conducted with the help of GPS on Sunday. Apart from this, search operation will also be conducted from Sunday morning through thermal imaging camera and victim location camera.
Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman said that on Saturday, 24 workers were brought to Joshimath from the Army Hospital in Mana. They are being treated at the Army Hospital here. The condition of two of these workers is a little serious, who have been referred to AIIMS Rishikesh. One of these patients has been admitted to AIIMS, while the process of bringing the other patient to AIIMS is in progress. Information has been received about the tragic death of a worker in Joshimath. On the other hand, a total of 26 workers trapped in the avalanche in Badrinath/Mana were brought. Out of these, 23 workers are safe, while 03 workers have died tragically.
On the other hand, District Magistrate Chamoli directed the representatives of BRO to call the homes of the workers who are missing and get information. When BRO called the house of Sunil Kumar, a resident of Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, it was found that he had reached home. Thus, currently four workers are missing.
By late Saturday evening, all eight containers were found by the relief and rescue teams. The containers were searched, in which no worker was found.
In view of the rescue operation being conducted till late evening, Secretary Disaster Management Vinod Kumar Suman has sent a letter to the Director of Jolly Grant Airport and requested to extend the watch hours of the airport till 08.30 pm for the landing of GPR sent from Delhi.
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
