At least four killed in heavy snowfall in India

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International Desk:  At least four people have died in heavy snowfall in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, with several others missing.

The Uttarakhand state government has confirmed this information.  

This information was revealed in a BBC report quoting the Indian Army.  

The report said that on February 28, a heavy snowfall swept away road construction workers in the Mana area bordering Tibet. Fifty people were rescued from the snow. Four of them later died. At least five are still missing. Efforts are underway to rescue them by helicopter.

They also said that helicopters have been deployed to rescue 5 people missing near the Himalayan mountains.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that rescue teams are continuing rescue operations uninterruptedly after the snowfall at the Border Roads Organization camp.  

On Friday, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police posted footage on Twitter showing rescuers carrying injured people on stretchers through several feet of snow, as the snow continued to fall.

Gaurav Kunawar, a former village council member in Mana, told the BBC on Friday, "No one lives permanently in the area where the snow has hit. Only road construction workers on the border stay there during the winter."

"There are still army personnel there. We heard that it has been raining in the area for two days. When the snow hit, the workers were in a camp there," he said.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department had earlier issued warnings of heavy rain and snowfall in several districts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu and Kashmir. Local officials have expressed concern over the number of casualties despite issuing an orange alert.

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