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The body of the eighth worker missing in the Mana (Chamoli) avalanche incident was recovered by the Army on Sunday afternoon during the ongoing search operation, officials said.
Earlier in the day, three more bodies were found as rescue teams continued searching for the last missing worker. "All 54 persons have now been rescued or recovered. This marks the culmination of the Mana Village Rescue Operation," said Lt Col Manish Shrivastava, PRO (Defence), Dehradun. According to officials, the search operation resumed on Sunday morning to locate four missing workers believed to be trapped under the snow after an avalanche hit a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) project site in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on February 28. With this, the death toll has risen to eight. Four workers had died on Saturday. The bodies of the BRO workers retrieved from the avalanche site were airlifted today and brought to the Joshimath military hospital, officials said. A total of 54 workers were buried when the avalanche struck on the morning of February 28. Army, ITBP, Air Force, NDRF, and SDRF personnel conducted rescue operations over the past two days. The SDRF team continued searching the site using victim-locating and thermal imaging cameras. Earlier today, a Drone-Based Intelligent Buried Object Detection System was brought to Joshimath and deployed at the avalanche site in Mana to assist in the search operation. Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh, Sandeep Singh, said, "The patient airlifted here today is Pawan Kumar, who has sustained a pelvic injury and is undergoing further treatment. Yesterday, Ashok Kumar was brought in with a spinal injury, which has left him unable to move his legs. He is scheduled for surgery today, pending test results." "Five patients were expected to be brought here, but we later learned that four would be arriving. Other injured workers are being treated at the base hospital," the AIIMS official added. Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman stated earlier that favourable weather conditions aided the search and rescue efforts. On Saturday, Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, GOC-in-C, Central Command, and Lt Gen DG Misra, GOC, Uttar Bharat Area, visited the avalanche site to oversee and coordinate rescue operations. Lt Gen Sengupta stated that specialized reconnaissance radars, UAVs, quadcopters, and avalanche rescue dogs were deployed to locate survivors. Helicopters have been continuously used to transport essential equipment and resources and to evacuate the injured. (ANI)
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