The disaster triggered avalanches, burst glaciers and flooded rivers, devastating villages, roads, bridges and hydro-electric power projects (HEPs), and sweeping away over 250 locals and workers.
While 69 bodies have been recovered so far, authorities have declared 135 people still missing as “dead” and the huge rescue operation is now a recovery effort.
At the time of writing, 21 bodies have been pulled from the slush-filled 2.5 kilometre-long tunnel at the state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) Tapovan-Vishnugad project site, where about 30 workers were feared trapped.
The NTPC has been fined about US$80,000 for causing environmental damage by violating muck disposal site maintenance standards in the Tapovan area.