Four dead and several missing after India avalanche
At least four people have died and several others are missing after an avalanche hit the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, authorities have said.
A rescue operation has been under way after the avalanche swept away road construction workers in the village of Mana, which shares a border with Tibet, on Friday.
Some 50 people who were buried under snow and debris were rescued, but four died from their injuries, the Indian army said.
Helicopters have been deployed in the search for five people who are still unaccounted for in the Himalayan mountain state, it added.
Uttarakhand state chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said rescue teams were "continuously engaged in relief efforts" following the avalanche, which hit a Border Roads Organisation camp.
He added that the government was committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected "in this hour of crisis".
Footage posted on X on Friday by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police showed rescuers carrying people on stretchers and walking through several feet of snow - even as more snow continued to fall.
Gaurav Kunwar, a former village council member of Mana, told BBC News on Friday the area where the avalanche hit was a "migratory area" and "no-one lives there permanently".
"Only labourers working on border roads stay there in the winter," he added.
"There's also some army presence there. We've heard that it has been raining in the area for two days. The road workers were in a camp when the avalanche hit."
The India Meteorological Department warned on Friday of heavy rainfall and snow in the northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as Jammu and Kashmir.
Orange alerts were also issued for snowfall in several districts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
3 days ago
3 dead and a dozen missing as torrential rains cause flash flood in north India
NEW DELHI -- Three people died and at least a dozen are feared missing after being swept away in a flash flood triggered by torrential rains in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, local authorities said on Thursday. A rescue operation has been launched to trace the missing, said Dinesh Sharma, a local government spokesperson in Kangra. The town is about 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Dharamshala, a popular tourist destination known for its Tibetan culture and as the home of Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama. Sudhir Sharma, a lawmaker from Dharamshala, said in a social media post that at least 15 to 20 workers resting in a temporary shed near the site of a hydroelectricity power project were swept away after water levels at a local reservoir rose suddenly late Wednesday. In a status report issued Thursday, the state government confirmed at least eight people were missing in Kangra and three in nearby Kullu. The authorities have evacuated around 50 stranded tourists to safer places in the state. The state government confirmed three people died, but did not provide details. Flash floods and cloudbursts are common in India's mountain states such as Himachal Pradesh during the monsoon season. Deforestation to make way for infrastructure development and expansion of hydel power projects has often led to calls by critics for environmental accountability and disaster preparedness in such states.
3 days ago
Death toll from this month's flooding in South Africa rises to over 100
JOHANNESBURG -- The death toll from severe floods that inundated parts of South Africa's rural Eastern Cape province two weeks ago has risen to 101, with a 12-month-old baby the youngest fatality, authorities said Thursday. Two children are still missing. Heavy rain on June 9 and 10 caused by a cold front resulted in floods that swept away victims and their houses, trapped others in their homes, damaged roads and other infrastructure and cut electricity supplies. Zolile Williams, an Eastern Cape provincial government official, provided the updated death toll at a press briefing Thursday and said search operations continued for the two missing children. Williams said 94 of the 101 victims had been identified and their bodies had been handed over to their families. The victims included 38 children. More than 4,000 people have been left homeless across the Eastern Cape province. South Africa last week declared a state of national disaster, allowing the government to release funding for relief services. Williams said that an estimated $288 million would be needed to replace damaged infrastructure and the province, one of the poorest in South Africa, needed help from the national government. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the worst affected sites two weeks ago and blamed the heavy rains and catastrophic floods on climate change. Another cold front hit South Africa's Western Cape province this week, bringing days of rain and causing flooding in and around the city of Cape Town. South Africa is vulnerable to strong weather fronts that blow in from the Indian and Southern Oceans. In 2022, more than 400 people died in flooding caused by prolonged heavy rains in the east coast city of Durban and surrounding areas. ___
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
3 dead and a dozen missing as torrential rains cause flash flood in north India
NEW DELHI (AP) — Three people died and at least a dozen are feared missing after being swept away in a flash flood triggered by torrential rains in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, local authorities said on Thursday. A rescue operation has been launched to trace the missing, said Dinesh Sharma, a local government spokesperson in Kangra. The town is about 18 kilometres (11 miles) from Dharamshala, a popular tourist destination known for its Tibetan culture and as the home of Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama. Sudhir Sharma, a lawmaker from Dharamshala, said in a social media post that at least 15 to 20 workers resting in a temporary shed near the site of a hydroelectricity power project were swept away after water levels at a local reservoir rose suddenly late Wednesday. In a status report issued Thursday, the state government confirmed at least eight people were missing in Kangra and three in nearby Kullu. The authorities have evacuated around 50 stranded tourists to safer places in the state. The state government confirmed three people died, but did not provide details. Flash floods and cloudbursts are common in India's mountain states such as Himachal Pradesh during the monsoon season. Deforestation to make way for infrastructure development and expansion of hydel power projects has often led to calls by critics for environmental accountability and disaster preparedness in such states.
