Uttarakhand avalanche toll 8 as bodies of 4 more BRO workers recovered

The bodies of the last four of the trapped labourers were recovered from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp at Chamoli in Uttarakhand on Sunday, taking the death toll to eight as the authorities ended the nearly 60-hour rescue operation.

Army doctors said the 46 workers who were rescued on Saturday were brought to the military hospital in Joshimath. Two of them were referred to AIIMS, Rishikesh.

An avalanche had struck the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath at 7: 15 am on Friday. “Out of the 54 labourers who went missing after the avalanche, 46 were rescued and eight found dead,” Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said.

Four bodies were retrieved on Saturday and as many on Sunday. Earlier, it was believed that the total number of trapped labourers was 55 but on Sunday this number was revised to 54 as one of the missing, Sunil Kumar, had proceeded on leave before the accident.

More than 200 personnel from the ITBP, BRO, NDRF, SDRF, IAF and the district administration were engaged in the rescue operation. Located 3 km from Badrinath, Mana is close to the Line of Actual Control with China.

The trapped workers found dead on Sunday were Arvind Kumar Singh (43) from Dehradun, Anil Kumar (21) from Rudrapur, Ashok (28) from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh and Harmesh from Una in Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

Helicopters, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging technology were used to expedite the rescue operation. Eight helicopters — five from the Army, two from the IAF and a civil chopper — were engaged to evacuate the rescued from the Mana post to the military hospital in Joshimath, the headquarters of the Army’s Ibex Brigade.

In addition, a drone-based system that can detect ‘buried objects’ was transported to Joshimath, and a UAV, five quadcopters and three Mini UAVs were deployed.

Uttarakhand