Search teams in northern India on Saturday attempted to rescue 22 workers believed to be trapped after an avalanche hit a remote border area.

Axar.az reports that citing AFP, the workers were buried under snow and debris after the avalanche hit a construction camp near a village on the border with Tibet in Chamoli district on Friday.

Uttarakhand state Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “Relief and rescue operations have been accelerated” with the weather in the area clearing up.

“Every effort is being made to safely evacuate all the workers trapped in the snow as soon as possible,” Dhami said in a post on X.

Police said the snow buried 55 workers initially.

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

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.