More than 50 workers were buried under snow and debris after an avalanche struck a construction camp in Uttarakhand state.
Rescuers have recovered the eighth and final body from the avalanche site in a remote region of northern India, as announced by the army. This marks the end of a grueling rescue operation conducted in subzero temperatures.
The avalanche hit the construction camp near Mana village, situated on the border with Tibet in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, on Friday. Authorities initially reported 55 workers at the site but later revised the number to 54 after discovering that one worker, previously thought to be buried, had safely returned home before the avalanche occurred.
By Saturday, rescuers had successfully pulled out 50 individuals, but four later succumbed to their injuries, according to an Indian army statement. By Sunday, the remaining bodies were recovered. The army utilized a drone-based detection system and a rescue dog to aid in the search operations.
Many of the trapped workers were migrant laborers employed in a highway expansion project, covering a 50-kilometer (31-mile) stretch from Mana, the last Indian village before the China border, to Mana Pass. They were living on-site in steel containers, deemed stronger than tents and capable of enduring harsh weather conditions.
As the ground shook, the container housing construction worker Anil and his colleagues began to slide downhill. “At first, we didn’t understand what was happening, but when we looked out of the container’s window, we saw piles of snow everywhere,” Anil, 20, told AFP. He recounted how the container’s roof began to bend inward, adding, “The way we were engulfed in snow, we had no hope of surviving. Being alive feels like a dream.”
His colleague Vipan Kumar thought “this was the end” when he found himself immobile and struggling for air under the thick snow. “I heard a loud roar, like thunder… before I could react, everything went dark,” he told The Times of India.
The ecologically fragile Himalayan region, increasingly impacted by global warming, is prone to avalanches and flash floods. In 2021, nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand when a massive glacier chunk fell into a river, triggering flash floods. Devastating monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 claimed 6,000 lives, prompting calls to reassess development projects in the state. In 2022, an avalanche killed 27 trainee mountaineers in Uttarakhand, while a glacier burst in 2021 caused a flash flood that left over 200 people dead.
Stay updated with the latest news by visiting our trusted sources: ZTC News and Z News Today. Explore more stories and updates now!