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Chamoli avalanche: Army rescues 384 people working with BRO, 8 bodies recovered
Following the avalanche incident in the Niti Valley area of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district near the India-China border on Friday, the Indian Army has rescued 384 people working with Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in its ongoing search and rescue operation
Following the avalanche incident in the Niti Valley area of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district near the India-China border on Friday, the Indian Army has rescued 384 people working with Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in its ongoing search and rescue operation. The army also and recovered at least eight bodies so far till Saturday noon.
Informing about the ongoing rescue operation, the Army’s Central Command tweeted, “384 BRO persons or have been moved to safety while eight bodies trapped under the snow have been recovered from the two BRO camps in Sumna. Six critically injured have been evacuated for the required treatment. Air sorties are being attempted to assist medical evacuation.”
As soon as the incident was reported to the army base in the area, it initiated the search and rescue operation braving extreme weather conditions till late night at 1.30.
“Till 1.30 am, 291 BRO persons were brought to safety. The rescue operation had to be halted at night due to weather conditions,” stated the Army Central Command on Twitter.
According to the BRO, the avalanche occurred on Friday at around 4 pm and had hit one of its camp in the Sumna area in the very remote area near the India-China border at an altitude of over 11,000 ft. Most of the trapped people were the labourers working under it for the construction of roads there.
Earlier in the day, chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat conducted an aerial inspection of the avalanche-hit area to monitor the situation.
Rawat said, “As per the information received from the BRO, about 400 people got trapped in the avalanche in remote Sumna area. So far about 385 have been rescued by the army which is carrying out the rescue operation with all their efforts in the difficult conditions.”
“Some casualties have also been reported from there. Meanwhile, to assist the Army in the rescue operation, teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are also reaching there to speed up the rescue operation,” he said, adding that the Chamoli district administration is also providing all possible help in it.
Meanwhile, informing more about the area of the incident, prominent geologist and director of Uttarakhand Space Application Centre, MPS Bisht said, “According to the satellite images, the incident happened in the upper Sumna area near Rimkhim Nala due to heavy snowfall in the past few days.”
“The place is approximately 25 kms upstream from Malari village in the tributary of Girthi Ganga river there,” said Bisht adding that, “In 1991-92 also an avalanche took place in Sumna area which had hit the ITBP camp there. At that time, 11 ITBP jawans had died.”
The BRO, through its official Twitter handle, informed, “The Malari-Sumna road in the area has been extensively damaged due to multiple landslides. BRO teams have swung into action at different locations to clear the debris with dozers and blasting efforts.”
Earlier on Friday night after receiving information about the incident, CM Rawat had “given the order to stop the work during the night in NTPC and other projects so that no untoward incident occurs”.
Niti Valley is a remote valley near the India-China border located at a height of over 11, 800 ft. The Niti Valley Pass had been an ancient trade route between India and Tibet but the same was sealed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
This is the second such incident in Chamoli district after February 7 when breakage of a glacier in Tapovan area led to flash floods and wreaked havoc downstream. Of the initial 204 people missing in the Chamoli disaster, search and rescue workers have so far recovered 79 bodies while 125 are still missing. The glacier breakage, snow avalanche and rockfall caused flash floods damaging two under-construction hydel power projects - Rishi Ganga and NTPC’s Tapovan. Water flowed over the dams with muck and debris, also entering dam tunnels.
In Uttarakhand, there are around 1,000 to 1,400 glaciers. Coupled with extreme local weather events and changes in terrain, these glaciers can lead to lake outbursts or lake formation due to the rockfall or landslides in the valleys or on slopes.
