46 Constructions Workers Saved by the Metal Containers They Were Sleeping in amid Avalanche That Killed 8 Others: Reports

Mar. 15, 2025

Dozens of men were found alive in metal containers following an avalanche in India.Photo:Indo-Tibetan Border Police

Indo-Tibetan Border Police

The majority of those rescued followingan avalanche in Indiawere saved because of the metal containers they were in, according to local media reports.

On Friday, Feb. 28, an avalanche struck a General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) Camp near Mana village in India’s northern Uttarakhand state — a mountainous location near the border of Tibet — trapping dozens of construction workers.

The Indian Army confirmedon Xon Sunday, March 2, that eight people had died in the incident after the body of the last missing worker had been recovered at 4:43 p.m. local time that day.

“[The] Indian Army conveys heartfelt condolences to the families of the workers who lost their lives in the unfortunate natural disaster,” the Army said in the X post.

According toThe Times of India, 46 workers were able to be rescued thanks to the steel containers they’d been sleeping in.

Workers are pictured amid the rescue mission following an avalanche in India.Indo-Tibetan Border Police

“These metal shelters saved most of them. They had just enough oxygen to hold on until we got them out,” a senior rescue official said, per the outlet. The publication stated that the outcome would likely have been different if they’d been staying in tents or barracks.

There had been eight metal containers in total, perThe Indian Express. The outlet stated that it took a while to find the last three containers “due to the six-feet-deep snow,” which is about 72 inches.

Rescuers said the steel boxes had been “able to withstand the wrecking avalanche and unrelenting weather, which is why a majority of men could be saved,” per theIndian Express.

Sources told the publication that the men had been working on a project connecting Mana village to Mana Pass through Badrinath when the avalanche hit. Uttarakhand Indian Army spokesperson, Lt Colonel Manish Srivastava, confirmed the victims had been part of a team involved in the Shivalik Project of the Border Roads Organization (BRO), dealing with road construction in the Garhwal region,The Indian Expressadded.

Amid the search and rescue operation, the Indian Army sharedmultiple updates on Xalongside several images and videos of those affected.

An avalanche hit an area near Mana village in India on Feb. 28, 2025.Indo-Tibetan Border Police

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On Friday, the team insisted the rescue mission would continue “despite harsh weather conditions and continuing snow.”

The minimum temperatures at the area where the avalanche struck had been around 10° Fahrenheit around the time of the incident, according toAFP. Gaurav Kunwar, a former village council member of Mana, toldBBC Newsthat the area where the avalanche hit was a “migratory area” and that “no one lives there permanently.”

“Only laborers working on border roads stay there in the winter,” he told the outlet. “There’s also some army presence there. We’ve heard that it has been raining in the area for two days. The road workers were in a camp when the avalanche hit.”

source: people.com