Uttarakhand disaster: 53 bodies recovered, rescue operation continues at Tapovan tunnel
As the rescue operation continues, a helicopter has been kept ready at the Tapovan tunnel site to provide medical help to possible survivors. February 15, 2021 / 09:12 AM IST
File image: Rescue workers look for survivors inside the Tapovan tunnel after the sudden collapse of a Himalayan glacier. (Image: AP)
A total of 53 bodies have so far been recovered from the Tapovan Tunnel in Chamoli district’s Joshimath, news agency ANI cited Uttarakhand’s State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) as saying.
This came following an eight-day operation to rescue around 30 people feared trapped in the tunnel after a flashflood-hit Chamoli district’s Joshimath area on February 7. On February 14, the authority had said that 41 bodies had been recovered. The flash flood may have been possibly triggered by an avalanche in the upper reaches of the Alaknanda river system.
Uttarakhand glacier burst: Rescuers pull out 6 bodies from Tapovan tunnel; toll rises to 51
Uttarakhand glacier burst: Yesterday, six bodies were recovered from the Tapovan power project tunnel, six from Raini upstream and one from the riverbank in Rudraprayag, taking the confirmed death toll in the Uttarakhand disaster to 51
BusinessToday.In | February 15, 2021 | Updated 08:37 IST
Rescue operations continue at Tapovan Tunnel, following glacier burst in Joshimath causing a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river, in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand
Death toll in the Uttarakhand glacier burst and the subsequent flooding of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers on February 7, rose to 51 as the rescue workers recovered more bodies on Sunday.
SDRF discovered eighteen new bodies taking the total death toll to 56 on Monday (February 15), while the rescue teams are still trying to reach more than 30 people who are trapped inside a tunnel near Tapovan after a flash flood.
UPDATED: February 14, 2021 08:06 IST
Rescue operations continue at Tapovan tunnel where 30 people are trapped after flash floods in Uttarakhand. (PTI)
Rescuers on Saturday began boring a wider and deeper hole into the tunnel at the flood-ravaged Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project in an attempt to reach the over 30 people trapped inside for nearly a week.
“The Silt Flushing Tunnel (SFT) was punctured on Friday night itself by drilling a 75mm-diameter hole into it but now it is being widened to 300 mm so that a camera and a water flushing pipe could be inserted into the tunnel where the trapped are possibly located,” news agency PTI quoted General Manager of the NTPC project R P Ahirwal as saying.
Some footbridges were washed away after the flash floods in Uttarakhand. (Photo: ANI)
After the Uttarakhand flash floods cut off various villages from other parts of the region, Indian Army has started using trolleys to transport people from one point to another. A footbridge was broken due to flash floods, leaving people in villages disconnected. We ve built aerial river crossing to provide connectivity, news agency ANI quoted Major Utkarsh Shukla as saying.
Uttarakhand: Indian Army uses trolley to connect villages cut off after glacier burst in Chamoli A footbridge was broken due to flash floods, leaving people in villages disconnected. We ve built aerial river crossing to provide connectivity, says Major Utkarsh Shukla pic.twitter.com/aQEWqQeC6K ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2021