Uttarakhand avalanche: 4 succumb to injuries, 5 still missing

AT LEAST four people died from their injuries after an avalanche hit a BRO camp in the high-altitude Mana village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, officials said Saturday (1), as rescuers deployed helicopters to search for the remaining five missing.

A total of 55 workers were buried under snow and debris after the avalanche hit a construction camp on Friday near Mana village on the border with Tibet in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

In a statement issued Saturday, the Indian army said 50 people were initially rescued, but among them four succumbed to their injuries.

"Unfortunately, four injured persons have been confirmed as fatal casualty," they said.

Five workers were still missing, the army said, adding that six choppers had been deployed into rescue efforts as the "roads are blocked".

Avalanches and landslides are common in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, especially during the winter season.

Environmentalist and Chipko movement leader Chandi Prasad Bhatt said that except the main temple of Badrinath, a large area of Badripuri is highly vulnerable to avalanches.

"If we look at the previous incidents of avalanches in this area, then Badripuri keeps suffering damages due to avalanches almost every decade. In 2014, there was heavy damage due to an avalanche in the Narayan Parvat area in Badrinath," the Gandhi Peace Prize winner said.

In the past, avalanches have caused loss of life and property not only in Badripuri but also in Mana and the adjoining villages, he said.

Ancestors of the people of Mana, which consists of more than four hundred tribal families, reared sheep and traded with people from Tibet. The trade stopped after the 1962 India-China war.

Natives return to Mana around the last week of April and the beginning of May. They farm, and grow crops, especially potatoes and vegetables, till November.

With the onset of winter in November, they move near Gopeshwar, about a hundred kilometres away from Mana.

Pradhan Pitambar Singh Molfa told PTI that for centuries, Mana have been following the custom of moving to lower reaches of the valley due to extreme cold.

He said the human settlements that have come up in half a dozen sub-villages, including Gajkoti, Indradhara, Pattaya, Bamni and Nagni near Badrinath are a result of natives' experience of the cold.

Scientists have said climate change was making weather events more severe, while the increased pace of development in the fragile Himalayan regions has also heightened fears about the fallout from deforestation and construction.

In 2021, nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand after a huge glacier chunk fell into a river, triggering flash floods.

And devastating monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 killed 6,000 people and led to calls for a review of development projects in the state. (Agencies)