At least four people have died after an avalanche struck a highway construction site near India’s border with China, the Indian army said, a day after the accident left dozens of workers trapped.
The avalanche hit the Mana Pass area in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Friday, trapping 55 workers under the snow.
By Saturday, rescuers managed to pull out 50 people, but four later succumbed to their injuries, according to an army statement.
The search continues for five missing workers, with multiple rescue teams and military helicopters deployed.
The army did not specify the number of injured but said those in critical condition were being prioritised for evacuation.
Senior official Chandrashekhar Vashistha confirmed that several workers suffered serious injuries and were receiving medical treatment.
Uttarakhand State Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said some of the seriously injured were taken to the Army Hospital, Joshimath, for treatment.
“Efforts are underway to safely extract the remaining trapped workers as soon as possible”, Dhami added on X.
Many of those trapped were migrant labourers working on a highway expansion project covering a 50km (31-mile) stretch from Mana, the last Indian village before the China border, to Mana Pass.
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14 more personnel have been rescued and evacuted from avalanche site by Indian Army this morning.
Search and Rescue operations continuing for more than 24 hours. With slight respite in the weather, three injured personnel evacuated from Mana to… pic. twitter.com/BdcRNYJV84
Indo-Tibetan Border Police spokesperson Kamlesh Kamal said rescue efforts were hindered by heavy snowfall, difficult terrain, and poor visibility.
Rescuers struggled through deep snow and snowstorms to reach the workers.
Police said army doctors at the site had performed life-saving surgery on those critically injured.
Friday’s avalanche occurred as a parallel rescue effort continued for a seventh day in the southern Indian town of Nagarkurnool, where several workers are , trapped in a partially collapsed tunnel.
The ecologically fragile Himalayan region, increasingly affected by global warming, is prone to avalanches and flash floods.
Nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand in 2021 when a sizable portion of a glacier sank into a river, causing flash floods.
6, 000 people were killed by monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 and led to calls for a state review of development projects.
27 trainee mountaineers were killed in Uttarakhand in 2022 when a glacier burst in 2021, causing a flash flood that resulted in more than 200 fatalities.
Source: Aljazeera
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