Chamoli: Indian Army has officially concluded its search and rescue operations at the site of the Mana Avalanche in Uttarakhand, following several days of intense efforts. A total of 46 workers have been successfully rescued and are now receiving medical treatment.
Tragically, eight workers lost their lives in the avalanche. The Army has expressed its condolences to the families of the deceased and pledged support during this difficult time.
At the time of the avalanche, 54 workers were stationed at the site. The powerful snow slide buried their containers, which served as living quarters. While eight lives were lost, the remaining workers either managed to escape or were rescued by the Army’s dedicated teams. With the recovery efforts now complete, the search operation has officially been called off.
To facilitate the rescue, eight helicopters were deployed, including five from the Army, two from the Air Force, and one civilian helicopter hired by the Army. All rescued individuals were transported to the Joshimath Military Hospital for medical care.
In an update provided on Sunday, Lt. Colonel Manish Srivastava reported that a drone-based ‘intelligent buried object detection system’ was airlifted from Delhi and arrived in Joshimath via Dehradun to assist in locating the final missing worker. A 17-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was also deployed to support the operation. The body of the last missing worker was eventually recovered, marking the conclusion of the search.
The eight victims have been identified as Mohinder Pal and Harmesh Chand from Himachal Pradesh; Jitender Singh, Manjeet Yadav, Alok Yadav, and Ashok Paswan from Uttar Pradesh; and Anil Kumar and Arvind Kumar Singh from Uttarakhand.
In the wake of the disaster, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued an avalanche warning for parts of Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. The alert, issued on Sunday, cautioned that a medium-level avalanche is likely to occur above 2,500 meters in the next 24 hours. The warning follows the deadly avalanche in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, which resulted in the loss of eight workers’ lives at a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp.
The NDMA advisory covers the higher altitudes of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, and Uttarkashi districts, as well as Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir. Officials have warned that the avalanche threat is expected to continue due to ongoing snow conditions over the coming days.
