Four workers were killed in an avalanche at a Border Roads Organisation project in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Friday, PTI quoted Army officials as saying on Saturday.

They were among 50 labourers who were pulled out from the site of the avalanche. Five more persons remain missing.

The avalanche struck between Mana village and Mana Pass on Friday morning, India Today reported.

The workers at the Border Roads Organisation project site were clearing snow. Mana is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres.

The search operation had to be suspended on Friday night due to heavy snowfall, The New Indian Express reported. The rescue efforts led by the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police resumed on Saturday morning.

A total of six helicopters have been deployed for the evacuation of the workers considering roads are blocked, the Defence Public Relations Officer in Dehradun said.

Initial reports on Friday evening had said that 57 workers were trapped and 32 of them had been rescued, but the number has since been revised to 55 workers after it was revealed that two of them were on leave.

The State Disaster Management Authority has issued an advisory, warning of heavy rainfall and snowfall in parts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal, Dehradun, Pithoragarh and Bageshwar, The Indian Express reported.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday conducted an aerial survey of the avalanche-hit area.