An avalanche hit snow-capped Mana at 7:17 am this morning, five kilometres from the Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand, trapping 57 Border Roads Organisation workers. 

Forty-one workers are still missing, but 16 have been rescued and sent to the Army camp near Mana, a village bordering Tibet. The Army’s Surya Command, which operates in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, said, “The IBEX BRIGADE swiftly launched rescue operations despite continuing heavy snowfall and minor avalanches.” 

At least 60-65 people are involved in the rescue operation which is taking place at 13,000 feet.

57 road construction workers were stationed in the BRO camp at the time of the incident, informed Deepam Seth, Uttarakhand’s Director General of Police, while speaking to NDTV.

Here are the live updates: 

The Sensex plunged over 1,400 points while the Nifty tanked 420 points in line with global markets, which have been rattled by US President Donald Trump’s announcement of an additional 10% tariff on China. 

At the end of the day’s trading, the benchmark Sensex closed at 73,198.10 while Nifty settled at 22,124.70.

Experts said the increased foreign fund outflows have also negatively impacted investor sentiment. 

“Stock markets dislike uncertainty, and uncertainty has been on the rise ever since Trump was elected the US president. The spate of tariff announcements by Trump has been impacting markets and the latest announcement of additional 10% tariff on China is a confirmation of the market view that Trump will use the initial months of his presidency to threaten countries with tariffs and then negotiate for a settlement favourable to the US,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“How China responds to the latest round of tariffs remains to be seen,” he added.

On Thursday, Trump said that the 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico would come into effect on March 4, the day the month-long pause ends, and not April 2 as he had hinted at earlier. “China will likewise be charged an additional 10% tariff on that date,” he added.

The 10% tariff on Chinese imports will be in addition to a levy at the same rate that the US president had imposed earlier this month.

China on Friday said it would to take “all necessary countermeasures” and warned that the decision to impose the additional tariff would “seriously impact dialogue.

Around 880 workers – including weather forecasters – are reported to have lost their jobs. 

​Around 880 workers – including weather forecasters – are reported to have lost their jobs.