Dehradun (Uttarakhand), March 2: The Indian Army on Sunday recovered two additional bodies from the site of an avalanche that struck a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp near Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. This is part of the ongoing search operation, which aims to locate the last missing worker, who remains unaccounted for.
According to a statement from PRO (Defence) Dehradun, 53 out of the 54 workers who were trapped under the snow following the avalanche on the morning of February 28 have now been rescued. The search operations resumed on Sunday morning after being paused due to heavy snowfall on Saturday evening.
Lt. Col. Manish Shrivastava, PRO (Defence) Dehradun, confirmed that “53 out of 54 workers have been rescued now, with one person still missing. The search and rescue operation is continuing.”
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami assured that efforts are still ongoing to locate the missing worker. Multiple agencies, including the Army, ITBP, Air Force, NDRF, and SDRF, are coordinating in the operation. Advanced technologies like ground-penetrating radar, thermal imaging cameras, and victim-locating cameras are being used to assist in the search.
While weather conditions in the region are improving, the risk of further avalanches remains high. Authorities have suspended operations in high-altitude areas as a safety measure.
Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari added that four deaths have been confirmed, reducing the total number of workers involved in the incident to 54, down from the earlier reported 55. One worker had been on unauthorized leave and was not present at the camp during the avalanche.
Meanwhile, a Mi-17 helicopter deployed by the Indian Air Force today carried a drone-based Intelligent Buried Object Detection system to assist in the ongoing search efforts. Injured BRO workers are being airlifted for medical treatment at the Joshimath Army Hospital.