As search efforts at the avalanche site started on Saturday (March 1, 2025), rescuers retrieved 14 additional laborers from the snow that swallowed a BRO camp in the high-altitude Mana hamlet in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. There are still eight workers stranded.
Of the 55 workers trapped beneath the avalanche that struck the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) site between Mana and Badrinath early on Friday morning, 47 have been rescued with the evacuation of the 14 workers. By Friday evening, thirty-three had been rescued.
The rescue operation was halted as darkness fell on Friday due to the difficulties caused by rain and snowstorm. On Saturday, helicopters joined the effort as the weather improved.
The rescue effort was continued in the morning by Mana-based Army and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel, according to District Disaster Management Officer N. K. Joshi. Officials say that as the search continues for the eight workers who have been trapped for more than twenty-four hours, the rescue teams have rescued fourteen other workers from the snow.
According to Chamoli District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari, three of the laborers who were taken to the Jyotirmath Army Hospital after being rescued on Friday in severe condition while receiving treatment at the ITBP hospital in Mana. “We hope the clear weather will speed up the rescue operation,” he said.
Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief minister, is also anticipated to visit the avalanche scene. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir are among the states where the trapped laborers are from, according to a list made public by the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority. The names of ten laborers are listed, but the states to which they belong are not mentioned.
Vinod Kumar Suman, the secretary of disaster management, stated on Friday that over 65 people are working on the rescue effort. At 3,200 meters above sea level, Mana is the final village on the India-Tibet border, three kilometers from Badrinath.
