Rescuers search for eight workers after avalanche in India

DEHRADUN, India – Search teams in northern India rescued 47 people trapped after an avalanche hit a remote border area but were still searching for eight more, officials said on March 1.

A total of 55 workers were buried under snow and debris after the avalanche hit a construction camp near a village on the border with Tibet in Chamoli district on Feb 28.

Uttarakhand state chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said “relief and rescue operations have been accelerated” with the weather in the area clearing up.

“Every effort is being made to safely evacuate all the workers trapped in the snow as soon as possible,” he posted on X.

Local police said on March 1 that 47 people had been pulled from the rubble but rescuers were still looking for the remaining eight.

Army doctors at the site performed surgery on those critically injured.

Mana village was deserted after residents moved to lower altitudes to escape the extreme weather, The Indian Express newspaper reported.

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

Scientists have said that climate change spurred by humans burning fossil fuels is making weather events more severe, super-charged by warmer oceans.

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.

Monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 killed 6,000 people and led to calls for a review of development projects in the state. AFP

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