Four evacuated from Malana project tunnel

Abhinav Vashisht

KULLU, AUGUST 2
Four persons stranded in a tunnel of the Malana Hydel power project-I since yesterday were rescued by the personnel of NDRF, ABVIMAS, Home Guards and local rescue team today.
These persons along with 29 other employees of the project were stranded after the barrage gave way due to a cloudburst upstream on Wednesday night. The NDRF personnel were able to rescue 29 persons yesterday. They spent the night in a dilapidated deserted wooden hut on a hill.
The NDRF team rescued the four persons stranded over the flooded nullah using the river-crossing technique. The rescued persons were identified as engineers Saurabh Sharma and Vishal Pandey and operators Dole Singh and Venkatesh.
Saurabh said, “There is a room in the tunnel and a stock of ration is also available there. We are thankful to the NDRF, district administration and the state government for rescuing us,” he added.
The NDRF and other teams had reached the other side of the nullah in front of the tunnel yesterday as well, but the stranded person moved inside the tunnel and could not be contacted. A team of local rescue operator Chhape Ram Negi also assisted in the rescue operation. District Disaster Management Authority chairman Ashwani Kumar said that all the stranded people had been rescued.