Dehradun:

The death count in the avalanche incident in Uttarakhand's Chamoli increased to eight after four missing workers' bodies were recovered this afternoon.

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.

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).

Photo Credit: PTI

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.

More than 200 personnel from the army, the disaster management authority, ITBP, BRO, NDRF, SDRF, IAF, district administration, health department and fire brigade are engaged in the rescue operations.

Six helicopters -- three of the Indian Army Aviation Corps, two of the Air Force and a civil chopper hired by the Army -- are engaged in the rescue operation.

Photo Credit: PTI

The officials are also using specialised RECCO radars, drones and avalanche rescue dogs to trace the missing workers.

On Saturday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also did an aerial survey of the avalanche-hit site and reviewed the relief-and-rescue operations.

आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी एवं माननीय केंद्रीय गृहमंत्री श्री @AmitShah जी के मार्गदर्शन में केन्द्र सरकार द्वारा भी बचाव कार्यों में पूरा सहयोग मिल रहा है। हमारी डबल इंजन सरकार हर परिस्थिति में नागरिकों के साथ मजबूती से खड़ी है। pic.twitter.com/IwbFdauraL

— Pushkar Singh Dhami (@pushkardhami) March 1, 2025

Officers have been instructed to carry on with the search for the missing workers on a war footing, he said.

Manoj Bhandari, one of 54 workers housed in containers near Mana, said he woke up to a "mountain of snow" sliding from the peak.

"I shouted to alert everyone and ran behind the loader machine parked nearby to save myself," he said as he recalled the Uttarakhand avalanche.

Another worker, Gopal Joshi, said the weather was as bad as it had been for the last few days. It all happened in a jiffy, he said.

"Snow was falling outside. The incident must have happened around 6 am. As soon as we came out of the container, we heard a loud thunder. When we looked towards the top, we saw a deluge of snow rolling towards us. I shouted to alert my companions and ran. There were already several feet of snow, due to which we could not run fast. After two hours, the soldiers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police came to rescue us," he said.

Vipin Kumar said he was buried in snow for about 15 minutes.