'Buried under snow for 15 min': Worker rescued from Uttarakhand avalanche narrates experience as search ops continue

As the operation to rescue the four workers who remain trapped in the snow continues, those who survived the avalanche at Mana in  Uttarakhand's Chamoli district have opened up about the disaster and how it all happened in a flash.

A worker, who was rescued and is currently undergoing treatment at Army's Jyotirmath Hospital, told local media that they were working for Vijay Infra Construction Company in the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp when the disaster struck.

Joshi, a native of Narayanbagh in Chamoli district and an operator of the accelerator machine, told India TV that the weather had been bad for the last few days and it was snowing on Friday morning too. "The disaster struck around 6 am. As soon as we got out of the container, we heard a loud rumbling noise. When we looked up, a snow avalanche was heading towards us. I shouted to my colleagues and we ran away. There were already several feet of snow due to which we could not run fast. After 2 hours, Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel came to rescue us," Joshi told the news outlet. He was rescued by an Army helicopter.

Vipin Kumar, another worker, said he was buried under the snow for 15 minutes before being rescued. "I was able to extricate myself out of the snow only when the avalanche stopped," he said while another labourer Manoj Bhandari said he woke up to a "mountain of snow" sliding from the peak. "I shouted to alert everyone and ran behind a loader machine parked nearby to save myself," he added.

Meanwhile, the Army has brought in GPS radar equipment to locate the containers where the workers lived in Mana. As per reports, five containers were initially traced and later the three. However, no worker was found in those. "If weather permits, specialised RECCO radars, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), quadcopters and avalanche rescue dogs will be pressed into service to trace the missing workers, " Lt Gen. Sengupta said. "Everything depends on the weather," he added.

According to an Army spokesperson, six helicopters were involved in the rescue operation. While 50 workers were rescued, four succumbed to their injuries. Mana, located three kilometres from Badrinath, is the last village located at an altitude of 3,200 meters on the Indo-Tibet border. 

Though five labourers were initially presumed missing, one of them -- Sunil Kumar from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh -- has reached home safely on his own.