Uttarakhand avalanche toll rises to 15

Gopeshwar: The death toll in an avalanche at Sumna near the Indo-China border in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district rose to 15 on Monday with the recovery of three more bodies, an official said.

Three people are still missing and efforts are on to locate them, Chamoli Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said.

Sumna, where the avalanche occurred on Friday, is located near the confluence of the Girthigad and Kiogad, two streams that originate from the Dhauli Ganga river, which witnessed a calamitous avalanche in February, killing 80 people and leaving 126 missing.

Joshi said the three bodies were recovered from the accident site on Monday morning.

Ten bodies were recovered from the avalanche site on Saturday and two on Sunday, he said confirming 15 deaths so far.

He said the bodies are being taken to Joshimath for a post-mortem. Eleven of the dead have been identified and they all were residents of Jharkhand.

Seven people injured in the incident are undergoing treatment. Five of them are receiving treatment at Joshimath Army Hospital while two were taken to Dehradun.