5 dead, 3 missing in avalanche in India’s Uttarakhand

The death count in the avalanche incident in Uttarakhand's Chamoli increased to five after a body was recovered this afternoon. Three workers are still missing.

An avalanche struck the labour site of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) near Mana village, about 5 km from the Badrinath Temple, on Friday, burying 54 workers inside eight containers and a shed under the snow, reports NDTV.

Thirty-three of them were rescued by Friday night and 17 on Saturday with the help of personnel from the Army, Air Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).

Four workers died during the treatment.

Heavy rain and snowfall have hampered the rescue operation, which was briefly halted for the last two nights. Relief teams are working at the avalanche site at an altitude of more than 3,200 metres, where minimum temperatures were down to minus 12 degrees Celsius.