Uttarakhand glacier disaster: Race against time to find over 30 trapped in tunnel

A bulldozer and rescue teams work at the entrance of a tunnel blocked with mud and debris in Tapovan. Pic/AFP

The death toll from the Uttarakhand glacier disaster rose to 31 with five more bodies being recovered, officials said on Tuesday as multiple agencies raced against time to reach over 30 workers trapped inside a tunnel in a power project site and 175 people remained missing.

Himanti Devi shows a photo of her husband Kuldeep Kumar, a worker at a hydel project who has been missing since the glacier burst, in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand, on Tuesday. PIC/PTI

Two of the bodies were recovered from the debris in Raini village, National Disaster Response Force officials said, two days after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier possibly burst its banks and triggered an avalanche and floods in the Alaknanda river system.

The State Emergency Operation Centre said five bodies were found in the morning, taking the death toll to 31, and estimated that 175 people are still missing.

With the hours ticking by inexorably, fears escalated about those missing since the disaster struck on Sunday morning, according to officials who stepped up efforts to locate survivors. The missing people include those working at NTPC's 480 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad project and the 13.2 MW Rishiganga Hydel Project and villagers whose homes nearby were washed away.

Teams of the Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force coordinated efforts to rescue about 30-35 people who were working in a tunnel at the Tapovan-Vishnugad project when the waters came rushing in.

"Clearing of debris and slush continued the whole night. About 120 metres of the tunnel entrance stretch is now clear," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said in Delhi.

"The height of the accumulated slush has reduced more. ITBP personnel are waiting to enter as soon as any movement deep inside the tunnel is possible," he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that efforts are underway on a war footing to rescue those trapped in the tunnel.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday gave Rs 11 crore as financial aid from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to the Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Fund.

175
No. of people still missing

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