Uttarakhand glacier burst| ‘Way ahead difficult’: Rescue op at Tapovan tunnel continues, 30 feared trapped
Thirty two bodies have so far been recovered and at least 206 people are missing following the glacier burst in Uttarakhand that led to flash floods in the Chamoli district on Sunday.
The multi-agency rescue operation at the 2.5 km long Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand continued on Tuesday night as nearly 30 people are feared trapped in the tunnel, news agency ANI reported. The rescue teams were seen removing slush and debris in the tunnel to evacuate the people stuck inside.
“A joint team of ITBP, NDRF, SDRF and other agencies entered the Tapovan tunnel this morning. The tunnel is still approachable up to about 120 meters; more slush and water coming from inside the tunnel making the way ahead difficult,” Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was quoted as saying on Wednesday, the third day of rescue operations.
A meeting of all agencies including senior officials of ITBP, NDRF, Army and local administration has been called today to decide further course of action, ANI reported.
The Tapovan tunnel is the second and bigger tunnel that the rescue teams are clearing. Twelve workers were rescued from another tunnel after a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off at Joshimath in Chamoli.
Thirty two bodies have so far been recovered and at least 206 people are missing following the glacier burst in Uttarakhand that led to flash floods in the Chamoli district on Sunday. The ITBP, the Indian Army, the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) forces are engaged rescue and relief operations in the affected areas.
On the assistance being provided to locals, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat tweeted, “With the help of district administration and ITBP jawans, the work of providing ration to the mainstream cut villages is being done by the government. The search is on to find those who are missing and we do our best to rescue the survivors as soon as possible.”
According to the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology , a breach in a temporary water body formed due to a hanging glacier crashing down after a huge rockslide, a few kilometres upstream of Rishi Ganga river, resulted in the flash-flood in the Chamoli district.
