Ten BRO workers dead, 29 missing & 07 injured after avalanche in Indo-China border region

Sunday, 25 April 2021 | PNS | Dehradun

Ten workers of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) died, 29 are missing and seven are injured following an avalanche in the Indo-China border region in Chamoli district on Friday. The mishap occurred in the Sumna area of Niti valley in Chamoli. According to officials, of the seven injured rescued from the site, six are being treated at the army hospital in Joshimath while one has been referred to Dehradun. According to the BRO, its team had reached the site of the avalanche where details of the incident and the persons affected are being ascertained.

The director general of police Ashok Kumar informed that a total of 430 BRO workers were at two sites when the avalanche occurred. Of these workers, 384 reached the ITBP and army camps safely. The Indo Tibetan Border Police and army camps at Sumna are safe, he added.Meanwhile, chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat along with the State minister for Disaster Management, Dhan Singh Rawat undertook an aerial survey of the affected area on Saturday morning. The CM told media persons in Chamoli that the army, ITBP, SDRF and NDRF teams were conducting rescue and relief works at the site which had been experiencing considerable snowfall in recent days. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel have also progressed towards the site along with some teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). While the district administration is actively facilitating rescue and relief efforts, more NDRF teams at Ghaziabad are also on alert mode, said the CM. Heavy snowfall in the area is affecting the rescue operations being carried out jointly by the ITBP, NDRF and the SDRF, Rawat added.