26 bodies recovered, 171 still missing in Uttarakhand

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

Joshimath, February 8

Twentysix bodies have been recovered while 171 persons were still missing as a multi-agency rescue operation was underway at the NTPC hydel project site in Chamoli that was ravaged by a flashflood in the Rishi Ganga, possibly after a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off on Sunday.

Edit: Himalayan tragedy

Ready to help in relief operation: United Nation

The United Nations stands ready to contribute to the ongoing rescue and assistance efforts in Uttarakhand, if necessary, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said as the global organisation expressed sadness over the loss of life and damage due to the glacier burst and flooding. PTI

Rockfall likely trigger: Expert

Kalachand Sain, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, says rockfall on accumulated snow in the higher Himalayan reaches of Chamoli may have caused a glacial breach. He pointed out that of the 1,000 glaciers in U’khand, scientists are able to monitor only 7. 

The glacier burst appeared to have triggered an avalanche and a deluge that ripped through the Alaknanda river system — the Rishi Ganga is its part.

The 171 reported missing, mostly from Uttarakhand, UP and Bihar, include those working at hydel power project sites and villagers whose homes nearby were washed away with the force of the raging waters, officials said. Two power projects — NTPC’s 480-MW Tapovan-Vishnugad project and the 13.2-MW Rishiganga hydel project —were extensively damaged with scores of labourers caught in tunnels as the waters came gushing in. Thirteen villages are cut off.

The disaster management teams were working to rescue 30 to 35 workers learnt to be stuck inside the Tapovan tunnel, said officials. Sniffer dogs and heavy mechanical equipment, including bulldozers and JCBs, were deployed.

Officials said 27 persons were rescued alive. Of them, 12 were saved from the smaller of the two tunnels at the Tapovan-Vishnugad project site and 15 from the Rishi Ganga site.

Facing criticism for allowing hydel projects in an ecologically fragile landscape, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat cautioned against falling for anti-development agenda in the wake of the flashflood.

The CM, who arrived in Joshimath, was briefed by ITBP Additional Director General (Western Command) MS Rawat about the rescue work.

The ITBP ADG, who met an ISRO team at the site, said the cause of the flashflood was being investigated, though it appeared lakhs of metric tonnes of snow had slid off a hill into the feeding points of the rivers.

Trivendra Singh said once the probe report was out, they would draft a plan to ward off potential disasters.

The residents of the 13 villages that have been cut off have been demanding rehabilitation elsewhere, saying they were scared to live here anymore. There’s apprehension that the flashflood swept away the supervisors of the projects in the Chamoli region.

The agencies involved in the rescue efforts include ITBP, Army, National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force.

NDRF chief SN Pradhan tweeted today that more teams had been flown in to Joshimath. An official said the operation to rescue the labourers feared trapped inside the tunnel remained slow due to structural challenges posed.

ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said special equipment had been arranged for the rescue. “There is a huge amount of debris inside the 250-metre tunnel. A 100-metre portion has been cleared,” he said.