Three labourers working on a hotel project were killed and six are missing following a cloudburst in Silai Band, Uttarkashi district, on Sunday morning.

Deepak Kathet, the station house officer of Barkot, said the construction work was being done along the Yamunotri Highway on the Char Dham pilgrimage route. It was in Barkot that an under-construction tunnel had collapsed in November 2023, trapping 41 labourers for 16 days.

“The labourers were camping in a tent along the road. While about 10 metres of the highway and the under-construction hotel building were washed away, nine labourers drowned. The state disaster response force has recovered the bodies of three labourers 18km from the site of the cloudburst, near the Tiladi Shaheed Memorial. Six are still untraceable. The teams are trying to find the missing workers,” he said.

Kantiram Joshi, the in-charge of the adjoining Paligarh police station, said: “There were 19 labourers at the spot, of whom 10 escaped unhurt. They have been brought to Paligarh.”

Paligarh is 4km from Silai Band. The labourers belong to Nepal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said: “The NDRF and the SDRF are at work to rescue the labourers. I am in touch with the rescue teams and hope that we are able to save as many labourers as possible.”

Vinod Kumar Suman, secretary, disaster management, of the state government, said 15 rescuers were at work and 45 more were on the way. “The rescue operation is being conducted manually because transporting machines and search equipment to the spot is not possible during this season.”

The government has put a halt on the Char Dham Yatra for a day and asked the devotees to stay wherever they are.

“The situation is out of control in Chamoli and Rudraprayag because of heavy rain and landslides. There are boulders and rubble on the roads. The roads can be cleaned only when the weather improves. We have asked all the district magistrates in the hill areas to ensure supply of medicines and food to stranded pilgrims,” a senior officer said on the condition of anonymity.

Vinay Shankar Panday, the divisional commissioner of Garhwal, said: “The pilgrims who were heading towards Badrinath and Kedarnath have been stopped in Srinagar (in Uttarakhand) and Rudraprayag. Those who were going towards Yamunotri and Gangotri have stopped at Vikasnagar and Barkot. Those pilgrims who have already reached the shrines are being shifted to safer places.”