Over 40 missing after avalanche in Indian Himalayas: rescuers

Rescuers were racing against time to search for more than 20 construction workers missing after an avalanche in India's Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Friday following heavy snowfall, the army said.

Disaster relief teams dug for hours through heavy snow after the avalanche hit a construction camp in Chamoli district, burying the workers under snow and debris.

"The avalanche rescue operation of the Army continues unabated despite harsh weather conditions and continuing snow," the Indian Army said in a statement on X.

Fifty-seven workers were initially trapped, but 22 managed to escape to the nearby temple town of Badrinath while 10 were rescued, it said, leaving 25 still unaccounted for.

Army doctors at the site performed life-saving surgeries on those critically injured in the incident, the army added.

But the bad weather was hampering the rescue operations, Deepam Seth, the state's top police officer, said.

"It has been snowing with strong winds... The roads are completely blocked. We have deployed snow cutters to open the road," he told broadcaster NDTV.

Ridhim Agarwal of the state disaster relief force said high-altitude rescue teams will be deployed by helicopter to the scene once the weather conditions improve.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he was "saddened" by the incident and was monitoring the rescue operations.

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

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.

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

© Agence France-Presse