NEW DELHI: At least 25 people remain trapped under snow after an avalanche struck the Indian Himalayan mountain state of Uttarakhand, authorities said on Friday, following recent heavy snowfall in the region.

The avalanche, which occurred near a highway in the Chamoli region adjoining Tibet, struck a labour site of the federal Border Roads Organisation, where eight containers and one shed, with 57 workers inside, were buried under the snow, according to an Indian army statement.

Five of the containers had been located and the search for the remaining three was ongoing, the statement added.

25 trapped as Indian army says search for three of total eight containers still on

At least 32 workers had been rescued, Chamoli’s district administrator Sandeep Tiwari said on Friday evening, insisting that there was no indication of any casualties.

Rain and snowfall, however, were limiting mobility and the use of helicopters, he said.

Members of the army were seen carrying a person on a stretcher through knee-deep snow, in images shared on X, as more snow continued to fall.

India’s weather department expects “heavy to very heavy” snowfall — defined as 5 inches of snow — over the state through Friday and to then subside “significantly”.

Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force deployed for the rescue operation were also facing delays in reaching the workers, senior NDRF official Mohsen Shahedi said.

Uttarakhand, which is located in the Himalayas, is increasingly prone to flash floods and landslides due to rising global temperatures, and environmentalists have urged a review of power projects and other development work there.

At least 80 people were killed and more than 200 reported missing when a part of a glacier in the state broke away in February 2021.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2025