Dozens of construction workers have been removed from metal containers after being buried by an avalanche in the Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
They have survived – some for almost two days – while the containers in which they lived had enough oxygen to support them until the rescuers could dig up, reported the Indian media quoting officials.
Friday, 54 workers were buried when the avalanche hit a construction camp near the village of Mana. Eight were killed, while the other 46 were rescued.
The operation lasted almost 60 hours at temperatures below zero and ended on Sunday.
Most of the workers, who worked on a highway expansion project, were able to “resist the demolition avalanche” because of the containers, rescuers told the Indian Express newspaper.
“These metal shelters saved most of them. They had just enough oxygen to hold until we took them out,” said a senior rescue at Times of India.
The newspaper reported that the force of the avalanche had launched eight metal containers and a hangar on the mountain.
Uttarakhand’s chief minister in the state of the Uttarakhand Singh Dhami thanked the rescue teams for his efforts in difficult conditions.
Members of the Indian army, forces of response to national and state disasters and the local administration had worked to release workers, using helicopters and drones for the operation.
Many rescued workers receive treatment in hospitals in the city of Joshimath of the State and the city of Rishikesh.
Satyaprakash Yadav, a migrant worker from the Uttar Pradesh who was one of the rescued people, said that “the avalanche struck our container as a landslide”, according to a video published by the army.
He added that the container in which he was separated when the snow struck and she found herself near a river.
“We managed to go out alone and reached a neighboring army guest house, where we spent the night,” he added.
Rajnish Kumar, a worker from the Uttarkhand Pithoragarh city, said most of them were sleeping when the avalanche hit.
“When the snow hit the container, it sank about 50 to 60 meters (the mountain). The army arrived quickly and saved us,” he said, according to the army video.
Gaurav Kunwar, a former member of the Village of Mana, told the BBC on Friday that the area where the avalanche was a “migratory zone” and that it had no permanent residents.
“Only workers working on border roads remain in winter,” he said, adding that it had rained for two days before the avalanche.
The meteorological department of India has warned against precipitation and snow in the northern states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as Jammu-et-Cachemire until Tuesday.
Avalanches and landslides are common in the Himalayas of Himalayas, especially during the winter.
Experts say that climate change has made extreme weather conditions more serious and less predictable. There has also been a rapid increase in deforestation and construction in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand in recent years.
In 2021, nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand after a piece of a Himalayan glacier fell into the river, triggering sudden floods.
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