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Entire workers' camp buried 4 dead after avalanche in the Himalayas

SDA

1.3.2025 - 15:41

Following an avalanche in the Indian Himalayas, rescue workers have brought most of the 55 people affected from the buried construction workers' camp to safety. However, four of the men died of their serious injuries, the Indian news agency PTI reported. The avalanche hit the camp in the border region with Tibet early on Friday morning.

Keystone-SDA

01.03.2025, 15:41

01.03.2025, 15:43

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • An avalanche in northern India has claimed the lives of at least four people.
  • The Indian military reported on Saturday that four of those rescued had not survived.
  • The masses of snow had poured down on a large group of construction workers near the Mana Pass in the border region with Tibet in the northern part of the union state of Uttarakhand on Friday.
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According to PTI, five workers were still missing on Saturday afternoon. The avalanche had hit the camp where around 55 workers were staying in containers and a shed. Several of the workers were able to bring themselves to safety, others were found alive.

Army doctors operated on site

As the Indian army announced on social media, special radar equipment, drones and avalanche sniffer dogs were used in the rescue operations. Helicopters were also constantly in the air to fly in equipment and fly out injured people. "Army doctors have performed life-saving operations on the seriously injured on site," it said on Platform X.

In this photo provided by the Indian Army, a team carries out rescue operations for trapped construction workers who were swept away by an avalanche near the Mana Pass.
In this photo provided by the Indian Army, a team carries out rescue operations for trapped construction workers who were swept away by an avalanche near the Mana Pass.
Bild: Indian Army on X (Twitter)/AP/dpa

Videos from the accident site showed the soldiers working between bent metal walls, overturned shelves and blankets lying around in the snow. A lot of fresh snow had recently fallen in the region.

Residents were aware of the risk of avalanches

According to the Indian army, the construction workers affected by the accident were employed by an organization that builds or maintains roads in the border region in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. The accident occurred near the border village of Mana.

The Times of India newspaper quoted a local environmental activist as saying that people in the region have been moving to lower regions every winter for hundreds of years. The whole region is very vulnerable to avalanches, said Chandi Prasad Bhatt.

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