Nearly 50 construction workers in India were saved from an avalanche, which killed eight others, thanks to the metal containers they were sleeping in, according to local media reports.

Officials in India say more than 40 construction workers are missing after an avalanche hit their camp in Uttarakhand state.

The three-day-long high-risk rescue operation at Mana, Chamoli, led by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in coordination with the Indian Army and NDRF, ends today.

The Army reported on Sunday that three additional bodies have been recovered from the site of a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) project in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. The avalanche, which struck on Friday, has now claimed seven lives, with one worker still missing. At the time of the incident, 54 workers were present at the site.

Rescue teams braved minus-20-degree cold and heavy snow to save 46 workers trapped by a deadly avalanche in Mana in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, since Friday. Eight perished, but heroic efforts by the forces using choppers and sniffer dogs,

Eight killed in Himalayan avalanche as dozens of workers rescued from shipping containers - Northern Indian region struck by calamity is ecologically sensitive and prone to avalanches and landslides

The Indian army says at least 4 workers died after an avalanche swept away a large construction crew working on a highway near India’s mountainous border with Tibet.