Uttarakhand Avalanche: The rescue and relief efforts in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli, which was struck by a massive avalanche near Mana village on Friday, are underway on a war footing amid challenging weather conditions. So far, 32 out of 57 people stuck have been rescued safely, and the process of evacuation of the remaining 25 people is in progress, the Uttarakhand Disaster Management Department said.
“By 5:00 pm, 32 people had been rescued safely. The process of evacuating the remaining 25 people is in progress. Relief and rescue work is going on on a war footing to rescue people trapped in the avalanche 6 km ahead of Badrinath Dham in Chamoli district.”
On the Chamoli avalanche, the Uttarakhand Disaster Management Department says,” By 5:00 pm, 32 people had been rescued safely. The process of evacuating the remaining 25 people is in progress. Relief and rescue work is going on on a war footing to rescue people trapped in the… https://t.co/UPqsze75ph
— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2025
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami reached the Disaster Control Room located at IT Park, Dehradun, to review the ongoing rescue operation after the avalanche incident in Mana of Chamoli district. The labourers were working to clear snow near the high-altitude border village of Mana in Chamoli when the avalanche hit their camp between Mana and Badrinath, according to officials.
#WATCH | Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is at the Disaster Control Room located at IT Park, Dehradun, to review the ongoing rescue operation after the avalanche incident in Mana of Chamoli district. pic.twitter.com/CZVudKTVT7
— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2025
Top Updates
1. Briefing reporters about the ongoing rescue operations, CM Dhami said, “PMO, HMO, and RMO are constantly taking updates on the situation. Indian Air Force helicopters are also kept on standby, and as soon as the weather clears, they will get to work. Some rescue teams are reaching by road also. We will set up a temporary control room in Joshimath. Since the workers who are trapped have come from different states, we have issued helpline numbers for them… We are just praying that everyone comes out safe… The disaster management department, district administration, ITBP, Indian Army, NDRF, and SDRF are all working to rescue the trapped workers… We will utilize the window we get, as per the weather forecast, to airlift the rescued workers to the hospital…”
2. The avalanche buried a camp of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) between Mana and Badrinath, and multiple teams battled tough terrain, heavy snow, and rain to rescue the workers. There was no immediate news of any casualties.
3. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Friday said it has rushed four teams to Uttarakhand’s border district of Chamoli, where 41 BRO labourers have been trapped under an avalanche.
4. NDRF Director General (DG) Piyush Anand told PTI that apart from these teams, another four units have been kept on standby. “The rescue mission has been activated, and the Union home minister (Amit Shah) has directed a quick response. Four NDRF teams are being rushed (to the spot),” he said.
5. Officials said two of these four teams have been rushed from the regional response centre (RRC) of the NDRF located in Dehradun, while the other two have been diverted from Joshimath, where they were undertaking a familiarization exercise.
6. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and took stock of the trapped people under an avalanche, saying the government’s priority is to safely evacuate all those who are out of reach.
7. Workers from Jharkhand are also among those feared trapped under an avalanche that buried a camp of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday, an official said. The exact number of workers from Jharkhand or their details, however, are not known.
8. “There have been reports of several workers working under BRO in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district being trapped under a broken glacier,” Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in a post on X. Mana, three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.
