Chamoli, March 2 Eight people died in the severe snowstorm and avalanche that hit Chamoli in Uttarakhand on Friday morning. The army confirmed this on Sunday evening. With this, the relief and rescue operation was also ended.
55 workers of the BRO camp in Mana area of Chamoli were caught in the snowstorm. The brigade commander of the area, Brigadier Mandeep Dhillon, said that eight people have died in this accident. The eighth body buried in the snow was found during the rescue operation on Sunday evening. The body of the last missing employee was recovered at 4:43 pm on Sunday evening. After this, the death toll has gone up to eight.
Out of the 55 workers caught in the avalanche, 46 were already rescued. One worker reached his home on his own. At the same time, the bodies of eight other missing workers have been recovered. The bodies of four of them were recovered on Sunday.
The Indian Army, which is engaged in relief and rescue operations, has expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the workers who lost their lives in the unfortunate natural disaster.
Brig. Mandeep Dhillon said that many lives were saved here due to the tireless and professional rescue operations conducted by the joint efforts of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, ITBP, NDRF, Border Roads and the State Government.
It is worth noting that snowfall and rain continued to create problems even during relief and rescue in this snowy area. The Indian Army has appreciated the efforts of all the soldiers and personnel who faced bad weather and terrain to carry out this rescue operation.
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army’s Central Command, Lieutenant General Anindya Sengupta personally monitored the ongoing search and rescue operations. He also visited the avalanche site in Uttarakhand to coordinate. Special reconnaissance radars, UAVs, quadcopters and dogs specialized in avalanche rescue were deployed to locate survivors. Army helicopters were continuously working to transport necessary equipment forward. With the help of helicopters, many injured were evacuated and taken to hospital.
