With the recovery of five more bodies on Tuesday, the death toll from the Uttarakhand glacier disaster rose to 31, even as a multi-agency operation to rescue around 35 workers feared trapped inside a swamped tunnel at the Tapovan power project in Chamoli district continued, officials said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah issued a statement in Rajya Sabha on the avalanche in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district and said all concerned agencies of Centre and State are monitoring the situation. Members of Rajya Sabha also paid tribute to victims of the disaster. In Lok Sabha, Shah said that Centre is monitoring the situation. “PM himself is monitoring it. Both the control rooms of the Home Ministry are monitoring the situation round the clock and the state is being provided with all the possible help,” he said.
Earlier during the day, state chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat conducted an aerial survey of areas affected due to the disaster and took stock of the situation. Personnel of the ITBP, NDRF and Army worked to locate around 170 people, mostly labourers working at two power projects, who are still reported missing.
Officials said rescue operations are centred around a 1,900-metre-long tunnel at NTPC’s Tapovan site, where at least 35 people are believed to be trapped. A barrage at the project site had been washed away in the flood that saw water rise up to 70 feet, leading to debris blocking the 20-feet-wide opening of the tunnel. The concern has been oxygen - deep inside a tunnel that is blocked from both sides, the men might suffocate. “The first 72 hours are crucial in such cases,” Rawat said while reviewing the rescue operation. “The tunnel is very long. There might be enough oxygen inside.”
The cause of the flood, meanwhile, remains uncertain. Fresh satellite-based assessment by the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing reported that it was not a glacier burst but a landslide that may have triggered an avalanche, which then caused the flood. Executive director of the Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre Piyoosh Rautela said, “Satellite data from February 7 clearly shows that a landslide at the terminus of the glacier at an altitude of 5,600m triggered a snow avalanche, covering approximately 14 sq km, and causing a flash flood downstream of Rishiganga river.”
Back on the ground, rescue teams said it is extremely cold. We are hopeful that our people are alive, that there are oxygenated spots inside,” ITBP spokesperson Vivek Pandey said. Tunnel Number 1 is a relatively narrow structure, about 25m wide. Only one excavator can enter at a time. “Because it is completely filled with slush, clearing the way has been a challenge,” DGP Ashok Kumar, who has been camping there, said. Because when the debris is cleared, there is not much space to manoeuvre.
So, progress has been slow. By Monday night, they managed to get100-130m into the tunnel. The hope, now, is that they get to this one point in the tunnel where the slush may have subsided. “About 180m into the tunnel, there is a sharp 90°- bend, which may have slowed down the flow at least,” Kumar added.
About 2,500 people in 13 villages, right up to Niti Pass, were completely cut off on Sunday after a bridge collapsed in Raini. “We are airdropping essentials in these remote villages and will keep doing so until connectivity is restored,” DGP Kumar said.
