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Uttarakhand glacier burst: What we know so far about the rescue operations
At least 174 people are still missing; 35 of them are inside the 1.7km tunnel at the Tapovan power project where two days of excavation has failed to make much headway
Rescuers scoured ravines and waded through the slush in the flash floods-hit Chamoli in Uttarakhand on Tuesday two days after a glacier breach sent a torrent of water, rock and dust hurtling down a valley into the Rishiganga river, where workers were building a dam. Here is what we know about the rescue work so far:
• The rescuers on Tuesday struggled to break through a column of mud and debris choking a key tunnel with dozens of workers trapped inside as the toll from the tragedy climbed to 32
• They pulled out bodies, some of which were lodged in knee-deep silt or atop trees.
• At least 174 people are still missing
• 35 of them are inside the 1.7km tunnel at the Tapovan power project where two days of excavation has failed to make much headway.
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• Visuals on Sunday showed floodwaters smashing most of the plant before roaring downstream into the Dhauliganga and partially damaging the National Thermal Power Corporation’s 530 MW Tapovan Vishnugrad project, roughly 8km away.
• The surging waters washed away homes, cut off 13 villages, and snapped crucial road links and bridges.
• The disaster is the worst to hit the state since the 2013 Kedarnath floods killed 5,700 people and highlighted the impact of the climate crisis and degradation of the fragile ecology.
