At least 4 construction workers are killed in an avalanche in northern India

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — At least four workers have died after an avalanche swept away a large construction crew working on a highway near India’s mountainous border with Tibet, Indian army said Saturday.

The incident took place near the Mana Pass in northern Uttarakhand state on Friday, and 55 construction workers were initially trapped under snow. Rescuers pulled out 50 workers, of whom four later died, the Indian army said in a statement.

It said the search for the five remaining missing workers was continuing, with multiple teams of rescuers and military helicopters scanning the incident site. The statement did not specify the number of injured but said they were “being prioritized for evacuation.”

Chandrashekhar Vashistha, a senior administrative official, said some of the workers had sustained serious injures and were hospitalized.

Many of the trapped workers were migrant laborers who were working on a highway widening and blacktopping project along a 50-kilometer (31-mile) stretch from Mana, the last village on Indian side, to the Mana Pass bordering Tibet.

“Rescue operations were slow due to heavy snowfall, and the area remained inaccessible,” said Kamlesh Kamal, a spokesperson for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. He said the rescuers had to work through several feet of snow, snowstorms and poor visibility.

The ecologically sensitive Himalayan region, which has been severely affected by global warming, is prone to avalanches and flash floods.

In 2022, 27 trainee mountaineers were killed in an avalanche in the northern Uttarakhand region. A year earlier, a glacier burst in the state resulted in a flash flood that left more than 200 people dead.