8 Dead In Uttarakhand Glacier Burst

New Delhi: Eight persons died after a glacier collapsed beyond Sumna in Niti Valley, where labourers were engaged in road construction work, near Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday.

The bodies were recovered on Saturday by the Indian Army, which also rescued 384 workers from a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in the area.

According to sources, the operations commenced this morning after it had to be halted because of bad weather conditions last night.

In a statement, the Army said that an avalanche hit a location about 4 km ahead of Sumna on Sumna- Rimkhim road in Uttarakhand around 4 pm on April 23. It is on the Joshimath-Malari-Girthidobla-Sumna-Rimkhim axis and the area has been experiencing heavy rains and snow for the last 5 days.

“Rescue operations were launched by the Indian Army immediately. As many as 384 labourers have been safely rescued and are now at the Army camp. Rescue operations to locate other labourers at both camps are continuing. Eight bodies have been recovered so far.”

The road access is cut off at four to five locations due to multiple landslides, and Border Roads Task Force teams from Joshimath are working to clear those en route from Bhapkund to Sumna since last evening. “It is expected to take another 6 to 8 hours to clear this complete axis,” the statement added.