Updated Feb 10, 2021 | 12:09 IST
During a secret expedition to the Nanda Devi mountain, a joint Indian and American team had left behind a nuclear-powered device after being caught in a blizzard. The device was never found. Uttarakhand glacier disaster | Photo Credit: AP
Dehradun: Days after the Uttarakhand glacier burst disaster in Chamoli district which left scores dead and more than a hundred missing, local villagers have expressed concerns that the tragedy could have been triggered by a plutonium radioactive device which was lost way back in 1965 during a classified expedition to the Nanda Devi mountain.
A report quoted the people of Rani village in Tapovan area as saying that on Sunday, when flash floods occurred in the area after muck and rubble rolled down from the Nanda Devi mountain into the Rishiganga river following a glacier break, they noticed a pungent smell in the air.