At least 41 road workers have been trapped after a massive avalanche struck a remote border area in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials say.
Police spokesperson IG Nilesh Anand Bharne told ANI news agency that 16 workers had been rescued and moved to an army camp nearby.
The avalanche hit a camp of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in Mana in Uttarakhand which shares a border with Tibet, officials say.
A senior district official, Sandeep Tiwari, told BBC Hindi that there was no information yet about whether there were fatalities.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami confirmed on X that rescue work was being carried out by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the BRO and other teams.
Ambulances and emergency teams have been dispatched, but treacherous conditions continue to pose challenges for rescuers.
Colonel Ankur Mahajan, a commander with the BRO, told the Hindustan Times newspaper that those who have been rescued are receiving treatment “but the extent of their injuries is unclear”.
Gaurav Kunwar, a former village council member of Mana, told BBC News that details of the incident were sketchy.
“No-one lives there permanently. It’s a migratory area and only labourers working on border roads stay there in the winter. 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.”
Earlier on Friday, the India Meteorological Department warned of heavy rainfall and snow in the northern Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as well as Jammu and Kashmir.
Orange alerts have also been issued for snowfall in several districts of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
