'We Heard A Loud Thunder': Uttarakhand Avalanche In Survivor's Words

Uttarakhand Avalanche: Most of the 19 people rescued and brought to the Army Hospital had injuries on their backs, heads, hands, and legs.

Fifty workers were rescued, while four of them died on Saturday.

Source : PTI

Uttarakhand Avalanche: With the rescue operations entering its second day, survivors have recounted their horrifying experiences. Gopal Joshi, one of the survivors who was living in the containers near Mana, was expecting a regular, silent morning.

Instead, he was met with a roaring cascade of snow hurtling toward them at ferocious speed, according to PTI.

The incident which took place on Friday trapped 55 workers under snow. Fifty workers were rescued, while four of them died on Saturday.

Joshi, a native of Narayanbagar in the Chamoli district, had been operating an accelerator machine for several months. He and his group were employed at a BRO camp by the Vijay Infra Construction Company.

It all happened in a so quickly, Joshi said, who, along with his 22 colleagues, was admitted for treatment at the Army's Jyotirmath hospital. He has a minor injury on his head and pain in his chest, and his companions were brought from Mana to Jyotirmath on Saturday by army helicopters. The weather, he noted, had been just as harsh as it had been in the past few days.

"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,” Joshi said. "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 added, PTI reported.

Another survivor, Vipin Kumar of Himachal Pradesh, who hurt his back, said he was buried in snow for about 15 minutes.

"I was able to get out of the snow only when the avalanche stopped," said Kumar, adding that it felt like his second birth.

Woke Up To 'Mountain Of Snow'

Meanwhile, Manoj Bhandari, said he woke up to a "mountain of snow" sliding from the peak. He shouted to alert everyone and ran behind the loader machine parked close by to save himself.

Three workers from Mathura said their bid to escape the avalanche was hindered by "several feet of snow." Jagbir Singh of Amritsar, Punjab, said he and his companions ran towards Badrinath.

Most of the 19 people rescued and brought to the Army Hospital had injuries on their backs, heads, hands, and legs. Two individuals with serious wounds were airlifted to AIIMS, Rishikesh, for advanced treatment.

The workers said they had been living in five containers set up along the roadside. The site housed 55 labourers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir, all contracted by GREF.

It has become a race against time amid bad weather to locate and pull out the remaining four workers who are still missing.  The Army will use drone-based tech in its search operations, and sniffer dogs are also being sent to join the operations in Mana village.