Rescuers resumed the search for 22 labourers trapped under several feet of snow in the high-altitude Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Saturday morning as the weather cleared up.

Choppers are likely to be roped in for the operation if the weather permits, an official said.

Fifty-five Border Roads Organisation (BRO) labourers were trapped under the avalanche on Friday and 33 of them were rescued. Rain and snowfall hampered the rescue efforts and the operation was suspended as the night fell.

The snowslide, which buried the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath, rolled down early on Friday morning.

Private and IAF choppers will aid the rescue efforts on Saturday if the weather permits. The nearest airstrip at Gauchar has been readied for the purpose, Chamoli District Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said.

It is a little cloudy at the moment but once the weather becomes favourable, the helicopters will be pressed into service, he said.