Magisterial Probe Ordered In Chamoli Avalanche That Killed 8

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate the avalanche in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district. All 54 missing laborers have been rescued or recovered, with eight confirmed dead.

Rescue operation after an avalanche hit the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp between Mana and Badrinath on Friday, in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.

Source : PTI

In the latest development regarding the avalanche at Mana village in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, a magisterial inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident.

As per the details, the SDM of Joshimath has been appointed as the officer for this investigation.

On February 28, a massive avalanche hit Chamoli district. In the rescue operation, more than 200 personnel from the disaster management authority, ITBP, BRO, NDRF, SDRF, IAF, district administration, health department and fire brigade were engaged. Out of the 54 labourers who went missing after the avalanche, 46 were rescued alive and eight found dead.

On Sunday afternoon, the body of the eighth worker was recovered by the Army, marking the culmination of the rescue operation. Earlier in the day, three more bodies were retrieved as search teams worked to locate the last missing worker.

"All 54 persons have now been rescued or recovered. This marks the culmination of the Mana Village Rescue Operation," said Lt Col Manish Shrivastava, PRO (Defence), Dehradun, as per news agency ANI.

Confirming the death toll, Chamoli Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Abhishek Gupta told news agency PTI, "After the avalanche in Joshimath block, we received seven dead bodies from the administration. One body was found yesterday, and six bodies were recovered today. Postmortem of all these bodies has been completed, and the documents have been submitted to the police. The police have moved all the bodies. An eighth body has been located, but its heli-rescue couldn’t be conducted today. It will be retrieved tomorrow morning."

Earlier, a Drone-Based Intelligent Buried Object Detection System was brought to Joshimath and deployed at the avalanche site in Mana to aid the search operation.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed satisfaction with the rescue operation saying, "I can say with great satisfaction that most of the people have been rescued and the search for the rest is ongoing... Uttarakhand is a disaster-prone state; landslides are a challenge here. But the government here has made good arrangements to tackle these incidents."

Avalanche Near ITBP Camp In Himachal's Lahaul-Spiti

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel on Sunday narrowly escaped a major accident in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul-Spiti as a high-speed avalanche stopped just 200 feet away from the ITBP camp. As per the details, there was no loss of life.

Deputy Commissioner Rahul Kumar, Chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority, said, "The soldiers of the ITBP camp, located in the Gyu area of ​​​​Kaja Mandal, were working to remove snow from the road. Meanwhile, suddenly heavy snow started sliding from the mountains. The speed of the avalanche was very fast, but fortunately it stopped just 200 feet before the camp."