Uttarakhand flashflood: Survivors recount horror

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

Joshimath, February 8

Away from the anxieties dotting the flashflood-ravaged sites in Chamoli where rescue operation is underway, the ITBP’s base hospital at Joshimath in Uttarakhand presents a picture of hope.

Recuperating at this facility are 12 workers of the NTPC’s Tapovan hydel project, devastated by Sunday’s Nanda Devi glacier burst that left at least 26 dead while over 171 are missing. In shock, the rescued workers recount their brush with death and how they held on to life trapped in a slush-filled tunnel for over five hours on Sunday until ITBP teams arrived and pulled them out using ropes. “I was working in the tunnel when alarm bells suddenly went off.

Within seconds, there was frenzied commotion. All were shouting ‘bhago paani ka sailaab aa raha hai’ (save yourself from the deluge). I felt numb for a second, but mustered courage to run—albeit in the direction of water.

“The last thing I remember was getting stuck in slush until I was pulled out. Those six hours were the darkest in my life,” says Himachal Pradesh’s Satish Kumar, 31, among the first few to be rescued.

Andhra Pradesh’s KS Reddy, an electrician, says it’s surreal to be alive. “I normally don’t work in the tunnel but yesterday around 9.30 am, I went in to fix some lights. Around 10.15 am, water gushed inside, sweeping along several workers. The electrical wire I was carrying proved my saviour as I used it to anchor myself along the tunnel wall,” the 50-year-old recounts.

Among the survivors are Nepali nationals Chitra, Kiran, Basant and Sant Bahadur, all in shock, speechless, barely able to fold hands in gratitude when asked, “Are you fine?”

Uttar Pradesh’s Virendra Kumar, pulled out with ropes as machines could not work inside the tunnels, recalls, “I fell unconscious as the wall of water hit us. Don’t remember what happened next and regained consciousness only after reaching the hospital.”

Four Chamoli residents—Lal Bahadur, Rakesh Bhatt, Suraj and Vinod Singh—too survived, courtesy ITBP personnel who proved to be a godsend amid the catastrophe.