8 dead in avalanche in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli

Gopeshwar: Eight Border Roads Organisation (BRO) workers were killed in an avalanche near the Indo-China border in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, officials said on Saturday.

Two bodies had been recovered from the site in Sumna area of Niti valley on Friday night, while six more were recovered on Saturday, District Magistrate Swati Bhadauria said.

Four injured have been rescued from the site, where rescue operations are on, Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat told reporters at Joshimath.

Around 391 BRO personnel out of over 400 who were at work when the avalanche occurred on Friday are said to have reached the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camps safely, said Rawat, who undertook an aerial survey of the area to assess the damage.

Sumna, where the avalanche occurred is approximately 25 kilometres from Malari village and located near the confluence of Girthigad and Kiogad, two streams that originate from Dhauli Ganga, which witnessed a calamitous avalanche in February in which 80 people were killed and 126 went missing.

Heavy snowfall in the area is hampering the rescue operations, which is being carried out jointly by the ITBP, NDRF and the SDRF, the chief minister said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured of all help in the rescue operations, Rawat said.

A similar avalanche at Sumna had killed eleven ITBP personnel in 1991.