Uttarakhand Glacier Burst: 32 Dead, 197 Still Missing

In a recent update, a total of 32 bodies have been recovered from Uttarakhand's Chamoli district where flash floods in the Alaknanda river system caused widespread destruction on Sunday. Rescue operations are still underway in Uttarakhand, while authorities put the official figure of missing persons at 197.

More than 600 personnel of The Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in Chamoli district to carry out search and rescue operations, India Today reported.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat took to Twitter on Tuesday to thank ITBP jawans for transporting ration, medicine and other essentials to remote villages cut off as a result of the floods. Road connectivity remains affected in the villages of Raini Palli, Pang, Lata, Suraithota, Suki, Bhalgaon, Tolma, Fagrasu, Long Segdi, Gahar, Bhangyul, Juwagwad and Jugju.

"I have seen myself ITBP jawans walking on foot 5-6 km in hilly terrain to transport ration, medicine etc to inaccessible villages such as Jugaju and Juvagar," said CM Rawat.

Apart from the loss of life and cattle, the flash floods also incurred heavy damage to the NTPC's 480 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad hydropower project and the 13.2 MW Rishiganga Hydel Project. The floods also swept away several homes.

Indian Navy personnel, including divers, have been engaged in rescue operations inside a tunnel at NTPC's Tapovan-Vishnugad project. The latest inputs suggest that 25-35 people are trapped inside the 2.5-km-long 'headrace tunnel' (HRT).

The water level in the tunnel is constantly rising, one official said adding that specialised equipment is being used to get through to those trapped in the tunnel. While officials are hopeful of finding 'signs of life', they have been unable to make contact with any of the workers trapped inside the tunnel as of yet.

"We cannot estimate exact time to remove debris as there is a 90-degree turn in the tunnel. We have asked project engineers to make alternative entry to reach through," Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The Home Minister went on to add, "Satellite data of February 7 shows that a landslide triggered a snow avalanche at a glacier at an altitude of 5,600 m in the catchment of the Rishi Ganga river. The snow avalanche covered approximately 14 sq m area, even causing a flash flood in the downstream of Rishi Ganga river."