MANA AVALANCHE 46 rescued, drone system to detect buried objects on way

A rescued worker being shifted via a helicopter from the Mana avalanche site to Joshimath for medical care in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. PTI

Four labourers have been found dead by rescue teams while the search is on for five others still buried under the snow following an avalanche that hit a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp near Mana in Uttarakhand on Friday.

The Army said 55 labourers were trapped in the incident. In the search operation launched by the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), 50 labourers were rescued, but four of them died on Saturday. These labourers were part of a BRO team engaged in an infrastructure project.

Mana is the last village on the India side and is close to the Line of Actual Control with China. A drone-based system to detect “buried objects” was being sent by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for deployment in the search and rescue operations. The Army is continuing its search to save the five missing persons despite bad weather conditions.

As a 20 km stretch of the road between Joshimath and Mana was still under the snow, six helicopters — three from the Army Aviation, two of the IAF and a civilian helicopter hired by the Army — were deployed to evacuate the rescued persons.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today visited the site and took stock of the rescue operations. Central Army Commander Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta also visited the avalanche site. In a video put out by the command, Lt Gen Sengupta said: “All resources, including unmanned aerial vehicles and radars, will be pressed into service once the weather and road conditions are conducive. The casualties are being shifted by the aerial route.” Army doctors on site performed life-saving surgeries on those in dire need, while helicopters carried out sorties from the Joshimath helipad.

“Twenty four of the 50 rescued persons have been brought to Joshimath and are being treated there. One person with a spinal injury has been sent to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh, via air ambulance and the rest will be brought tomorrow to Joshimath and given medical assistance,” Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari was quoted as saying to the media.