Dehradun: Rescue operations in the massive avalanche in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli ended on Sunday after the body of the last trapped worker was found.
A total of 54 workers were buried under the snow after an avalanche struck a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp near Mana village in Chamoli in the early hours of February 28.
Eight workers lost their lives while 46 were rescued from the site of one of the deadliest avalanche strikes in recent years.
“The operation was completed at 5.30 pm today, and out of the 54 Border Roads Organisation workers who were trapped there, 46 have been rescued safely, and there have been 8 casualties. The district administration got full support from the central government and the state government, due to which this operation was successful… The bodies will be handed over to their families after completing the legal formalities,” Chamoli district magistrate Chamoli Sandeep Tiwari told ANI.
Eight worker accommodations (containers) at the BRO camp got buried after the avalanche struck. Five were found on Friday, the remaining three on Saturday. However, no worker was found inside those containers.
Heavy snowfall and rain had hampered rescue efforts on Friday, forcing operations to be suspended overnight. Sunday’s clear weather resume the operation to locate the last worker.
Five workers were reported missing initially. However, Himachal Pradesh’s Sunil Kumar managed to escape, bringing down the number of missing workers to four. Three more were rescued by agencies, but the last trapped worker could not be saved.
Massive rescue mission
More than 200 personnel from BRO, Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were engaged in the high-intensity rescue operation for over 48 hours.
Specialised tools like Victim Locating Cameras (VLC), Thermal Imaging Cameras, Ground Penetration Radar (brought from Delhi) and avalanche rescue dogs were deployed to detect those who were buried.
Six helicopters, including three from Army Aviation Corps, two from Indian Air Force (IAF), and a civil helicopter hired by the Army, were engaged in the massive rescue mission, while Indian Air Force’s Cheetah helicopters airlifted injured workers to the Army Hospital in Joshimath.
The avalanche blocked the Badrinath-Joshimath highway at 15–20 locations, making it nearly impossible for rescue teams to reach the site by road. As a result, the Army and IAF helicopters played a crucial role in transporting rescuers and equipment.
The Drone-Based Intelligent Buried Object Detection (DIBOD) System was also pressed into service to help in the search for one trapped worker. The system DIBOD system was previously used in Wayanad to try and detect human presence beneath the earth’s surface following the deadly landslides in August 2024.
