Survivor of Uttarakhand Avalanche Recalls the Harrowing Incident

Dehradun:

BRO worker Jagbir Singh regained consciousness surrounded by an endless expanse of white, next to a deceased co-worker, his body buried under mounds of snow with a fractured leg and head injuries.

Jagbir Singh spotted a hotel in the distance and sought refuge there for approximately 25 harrowing hours. To stave off thirst, he ate snow and battled the piercing cold with just a single blanket shared among over a dozen companions—all of whom were trapped under an avalanche in the high-altitude village of Mana in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district.

Jagbir Singh from Amritsar recounted that he was asleep in his container at the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp when the avalanche sent them tumbling several hundred meters down.

“The container we were in went rolling down. By the time we could understand what had happened, I found that a colleague had died, my leg was fractured, and I had sustained a head injury. There were heaps of snow everywhere,” he said.

They somehow managed to trudge to a distant hotel and took shelter. “We were rescued after 25 hours, during which 14-15 of us had just one blanket to cover us. We ate snow when we felt thirsty,” he added.

Fifty-four BRO workers, housed in containers for the night, were caught in the avalanche that struck Friday morning. Seven workers lost their lives, while 46 others are receiving treatment for their injuries after being safely rescued in a multi-agency operation. Efforts to locate one missing worker are still ongoing.

The traumatized survivors, brought to the military hospital in Jyotirmath, recounted their horrifying ordeal.

The avalanche was so fierce that it swept the containers 300 meters down in just ten seconds, said Manoj Bhandari from Uttarkashi.

“I lost my senses for a while, then realized escaping was impossible as there was 3-4 feet of snow all around. Somehow, we walked barefoot through the snow to reach an empty Army guest house for shelter. Rescuers reached us after 2-3 hours,” Bhandari said.

The containers were all swept toward the Alaknanda River, said Munna Prasad from Vaishali district in Bihar.

“We lay scattered under the snow for about 12 hours. Snow clogged our nostrils, making it hard to breathe. Thankfully, the Army and ITBP teams came to our rescue before it was too late,” he said.

Many workers survived by finding refuge in whatever shelter they could—Army camps, barracks, or deserted hotels. While some were rescued within hours of the avalanche on Friday, others endured tens of hours in the cold with virtually no resources.

Thirty-three workers were rescued by Friday night, and 17 more on Saturday.

Another Bihar resident, Avinash Kumar, was entirely buried under snow except for his head, which was bleeding and injured after hitting an iron object during the avalanche. He was rescued by Army personnel after two hours and received 29 stitches for his head injury.

Chandrabhan from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh said a milder snowslide preceded the main one, which struck around 5:30 am, leaving them no time to prepare. “I escaped through an opening on top of the container,” he said.

Vipin Kumar from Himachal Pradesh said everything happened in an instant. The Army guest house became a shelter for many stranded laborers who spent nearly 25 hours in sub-zero temperatures, amid constant snowfall, without proper clothing, he said.

Another rescued worker, Ganesh Kumar from Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, said it had snowed overnight before the avalanche hit early in the morning. He was asleep when it occurred.

“It was around six in the morning. I was sleeping in the container with my colleagues. Suddenly, our container started moving with the snow, and soon we found ourselves stuck in the middle of it.” After some time, the rescue team arrived and took us to the Army hospital on a stretcher.

Moradabad’s Vijaypal and his companions fell into a ditch more than a hundred meters deep. They spotted a deserted Army barrack about 200 meters away and waded through the avalanche debris toward it.

Due to the area’s susceptibility to avalanches, the Army does not use the barrack in winter. However, it became a lifeline for them as they stayed there for about 24 hours before being taken to safety.

Vijaypal said it had been snowing for many days, and on the morning of February 28, there were two avalanches near their camp.

“We survived the first avalanche, but after a few minutes, a more powerful one struck, and we were swept down about 150 meters along with the container.

“On the road to Mana, about 150-200 meters away, there was an empty Army camp where we spent the entire night in the deserted barracks,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)