Continued efforts to rescue workers buried by snow after Chamoli avalanche on the border with Tibet.
An avalanche near India’s border with China has claimed the lives of at least four individuals, as reported by the Indian army, following an incident that left dozens of workers trapped under the snow.
The avalanche occurred at Mana Pass, a region in Uttarakhand, India’s northern Himalayas, on Friday, burying 55 workers.
By Saturday, rescue teams had managed to free 50 individuals, though sadly four did not survive their injuries, as per the army’s account.
The search is still on for five workers who remain missing, with rescue teams and military helicopters actively involved.
The army has not specified the total number of injured persons but stated a priority focus on evacuating those in critical condition.
Senior official Chandrashekhar Vashistha acknowledged that several workers sustained severe injuries and are receiving medical attention.
Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reported that some of the seriously injured were taken to the Army Hospital in Joshimath for further care.
“We are working to safely extract the remaining trapped workers as soon as possible,” Dhami stated on X.
A significant number of the trapped individuals are migrant laborers involved in a highway expansion project covering a 50km (31-mile) stretch from Mana – the final Indian village before the China border – to Mana Pass.
#IndianArmy #SuryaCommand causing 14 more rescued and evacuated from avalanche site this morning, ongoing search and rescue operations for over 24 hours, three evacuated from Mana to.. pic.twitter.com/BdcRNYJV84 – SuryaCommand_IA March 1, 2025
Rescue operations faced challenges such as heavy snowfall, difficult terrain, and limited visibility, as noted by Indo-Tibetan Border Police spokesperson Kamlesh Kamal.
Rescue teams battled through deep snow and blizzards to reach the affected workers.
According to the police, army medical personnel at the scene performed emergency surgery on those critically injured.
While rescue efforts continued, a parallel operation was ongoing in the southern Indian town of Nagarkurnool – where workers have been trapped in a partially collapsed tunnel for a week.
The Himalayan region’s ecological fragility, exacerbated by global warming, makes it particularly susceptible to avalanches and flash floods.
A 2021 incident saw the deaths of nearly 100 people in Uttarakhand when a glacier collapse triggered flash floods in the region.
Severe monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 resulted in 6,000 fatalities and raised concerns about the need to review development projects in the state.
Avalanches have previously claimed lives, such as the 2022 incident that killed 27 trainee mountaineers, and the 2021 glacier burst that left over 200 individuals deceased.
