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Rescuers race against time to save 37 men trapped in tunnel in Chamoli’s Tapovan
Thirty seven men including engineers and casual labourers have been trapped inside the Tapovan tunnel since Sunday morning after a glacier burst triggered a flash flood in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district.
Rescuers on Tuesday used excavators to remove slush, drones to gauge the situation inside and rappelled inside a tunnel at NTPC's hydroelectric plant in Tapovan in Uttarakhand where at least 37 men are trapped since Sunday morning, but failed to reach any of them.
There was no contact with the trapped men till the evening amid fears that time could be running out. The 37 men include engineers and casual labourers who were working inside the tunnel when a glacier burst and triggered a flash food.
"We have been able to clear about 110 metres of the slush from the tunnel, but we may have not covered even half of the distance. The drones didn't help much. We can't say how long the rescue operation will go on," said Benudhar Nayak, commandant of the ITBP's First Battalion, who is overseeing the operations along with teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Indian Army.
According to a map available with the authorities, the 37 trapped men were stranded around a point in the 1.7-km long main tunnel where it is joined by a 240-metre long subsidiary tunnel. Rescuers, who are currently trying to enter through the subsidiary tunnel will have to first make their way through 240 metres then probably some more on either sides of the main tunnel before they can find the trapped men.
At the other end of the tunnel, the ITBP on Sunday evening successfully rescued 12 men who were trapped for seven hours.
Rescuers have learnt that a bulldozer and two multi-utility vehicles (MUVs) too are trapped around the 37 men.
Officers saw a silver lining in this information. "We see that as good news. The vehicles could possibly have stopped slush from drowning the trapped men. They could also have served as a safe space for them," said Major General Rajiv Chhibber, one of the officers overseeing the rescue operations.
At the other end of the same tunnel, an excavator available with the 12 trapped men -- who were eventually rescued -- served them well.
Rescuers said that removing each scoop of slush from inside the tunnel was a time consuming task. "Only one vehicle is able to go in. When it returns to dump the slush, much of it falls along the way. Each round takes several minutes," said Jagdish Uniyal, an ITBP officer.
The slush along the route has also made it difficult for rescuers to walk. General Chhibber said that rescuers were using wooden planks to negate this hurdle.
Rescuers even tried to rappel into the tunnel by fixing hooks to the roof, but they were unable to make much progress. "We tried to push in our men, but there isn't enough working space inside. Also, as we go deeper, we are facing a barrage of slush and debris hurtling towards us," said an army lieutenant colonel who did not wish to be named
While officers weren't able to give a likely timeframe in which the trapped men could be accessed, the families of those trapped continued to wait in hope despite no immediate breakthrough in sight. "I couldn't bear the cold at night. I don't know how my brother will survive inside. I am just hoping he has found a space inside one of the vehicles stranded inside," said Sunil Pal, whose brother Amit Pal is among those sti inside the tunnel.
