Uttarakhand disaster: Rescuers brave odds, go without rest to save lives

All are working for minimum 10-12 hours, braving all odds including the muck and the Himalayan winter, said SDRF spokesperson.

A day after the tragedy caused by an avalanche causing Rishi Ganga river to wash away two hydel power projects in Uttarakhand, the rescue workers resumed their operation on Monday morning. Working for almost the whole day on Sunday, they are no short of energy to save lives but face the challenge of a huge amount of muck brought by the swollen Rishi Ganga river in the incident.

Rescue ops at NTPC tunnel near Tapovan. (Chamoli Police)

The rescue workers, which include personnel from state disaster response force (SDRF), national disaster response force (NDRF), armed forces and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), recovered 18 bodies of the 202 missing people till Monday evening. Major rescue work is going on in a tunnel which is about 900 metres long in the Dhauli Ganga dam at Tapovan in which about 35 workers are feared trapped.

Praveen Alok, spokesperson for the SDRF, which was the first to reach the spot for rescue work on Sunday along with the local police said, "The biggest challenge in the rescue work is the huge amount of muck."

"The rescue workers are working very cautiously as they are unable to assess the level of muck inside. Around 35 people are feared trapped inside the tunnel," said Alok.

He added, "It is a considerably difficult situation to work in because we don't know how deep the muck is inside the long tunnel. The engineers in our SDRF teams, after assessing the situation, have asked the rescue workers to put a wooden plank and then walk on it inside the tunnel to avoid any untoward incident while working."

Alok also informed that the rescue workers are "working tirelessly to save lives in the area after the tragedy."

"On Sunday, after the incident was reported, our men started the rescue work at 11 am and continued the whole night. On Sunday morning, they were replaced by another team which is continuing the rescue work. They are working in rotation so as to get some rest as the team which worked till Monday morning has been asked to rest and resume on Tuesday. All are working for minimum 10-12 hours, braving all odds including the muck and the Himalayan winter," said Alok.

State director general of police (DGP), Ashok Kumar, said that the main focus of the rescue work is on the tunnel while clearing the muck inside.

"The rescue workers are clearing the muck with the help of heavy machines to rescue those trapped inside. There is a bend after a distance of 180 metres in it. We have been able to clear 80 metres of it and efforts are on to clear more," said Kumar.

Meanwhile, Riddhim Aggarwal, deputy inspector general, SDRF informed that the SDRF teams are also combing the riverside to look for bodies of the victims.

"The rescue workers are working to clear the muck inside the tunnel along with the heavy machines. Apart from this, about six SDRF teams are conducting a search operation on the riverside to find bodies and recover them. They have so far covered a distance of about 80 kilometres from Chamoli to Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal district on the Alaknanda river," said Aggarwal.