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Chamoli glacial burst: Army, NDRF, ITBP begin rescue operations on a war-footing
Indian Army officials are also performing aerial reconnaissance over the Reni village in Tapovan area of Chamoli.
Indian Army officials on Sunday said that 600 Indian Army soldiers are en route to the flood affected areas in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli to assist in rescue and relief efforts, news agency ANI reported.
Army officials also said that choppers have been deployed to assist rescue and relief operations which are being carried out by the State Disaster Relief Management and National Disaster Relief Management teams at the flood site.
“Indian Army has deployed choppers and troops supporting the Uttarakhand government and NDRF to tackle the flood. Military station near Rishikesh actively involved in coordination of rescue and relief operations with local administration. Army headquarters monitoring the situation,” army officials familiar with the developments were quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Indian Army officials are also performing aerial reconnaissance over the Reni village in Tapovan area of Chamoli. The army officials have said that four columns of army officers, one engineering task force and two medical teams are currently deployed at Reni village. Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had also reached the site and is currently being briefed about the situation by NDRF, SDRF and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) officials present at the site.
Earlier on Sunday, a glacial burst triggered a massive flood in the Rishi Ganga river which led to the SDRF declaring a flood alert across all districts of Uttarakhand. More than 150 people are feared to have lost their lives due to the flash flood caused by the glacier burst. ITBP officials have recovered 3 bodies so far near the NTPC project on river Dhauli Ganga near Tapovan. ITBP officials have also said that due to the glacier burst the water level in the river rose which led to the devastation. They also said that due to the flooding the Rishi Ganga Hydro Project and the BRO bridge on Joshimath highway have been completely devastated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and Union ministers Sitharaman and Goyal have assured full support to the affected and to all citizens of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand chief minister TS Rawat has also shared phone numbers for people to reach out in case of emergency and has requested people to not spread any rumors.
