DEHRADUN, India, Feb 28, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - More than 40 construction workers 
were missing after an avalanche in India's Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on 
Friday following heavy snowfall, officials said.

Rescue teams dug for hours through heavy snow, Ridhim Agarwal of the state 
disaster relief force said in a statement, adding: "So far, 15 workers are 
safe while 42 are missing."

The avalanche hit a construction camp in Chamoli district, burying the 
workers under snow and debris.

As soon as the weather conditions improve, high-altitude rescue teams will be 
deployed by helicopter to the scene, she added.

Deepam Seth, the state's top police officer, said the bad weather was 
hampering the rescue operations.

"It has been snowing with strong winds... The roads are completely blocked. 
We have deployed snow cutters to open the road," he told broadcaster NDTV.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he was "saddened" by the 
incident and was monitoring the rescue operations.

Avalanches and landslides are common in the upper reaches of the Himalayas, 
especially during the winter season.

Scientists have shown that climate change spurred by humans burning fossil 
fuels is making weather events more severe, super-charged by warmer oceans.

The increased pace of development in the fragile Himalayan regions has also 
heightened fears about the fallout from deforestation and construction.

In 2021, nearly 100 people died in Uttarakhand after a huge glacier chunk 
fell into a river, triggering flash floods.

And devastating monsoon floods and landslides in 2013 killed 6,000 people and 
led to calls for a review of development projects in the state.