Search operation and dewatering process continues in the Tapovan barrage area and tunnel respectively
Gopeshwar:
Two more bodies were recovered from the flood ravaged Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project site, taking the death toll in the calamity in Uttarakhand to 67 even as search operations continued there for the 15th day on Sunday.
Three bodies had been recovered from the desilting tank near the Tapovan project barrage by Saturday evening while two more were extricated late at night, district administration officials said.
Search operation at the project site has been underway on a war footing basis for a fortnight since it bore the brunt of an avalanche triggered by a glacier burst over Rishi Ganga in Chamoli district on February 7.
Chamoli Glacier Burst: Workers have been clearing rocks and mud from the tunnel since Sunday s disaster.
Highlights
Only 34 bodies have been recovered so far
Glaciers have been melting rapidly in the state because of global warming
Rescuers began drilling from above a debris-filled tunnel on Thursday in a desperate bid to reach dozens of people missing since a flash flood likely caused by a breaking glacier four days earlier.
Workers have toiled night and day clearing rocks and mud from the tunnel at a damaged hydroelectric plant at Tapovan in Uttarakhand since Sunday s disaster.
More than 170 people are missing elsewhere in the Himalayan state, slightly smaller than Switzerland, after the disaster. Because of the amount of debris, only 34 bodies have been recovered so far.
Late Tuesday night - nearly 60 hours after a glacier burst in Uttarakhand's Chamoli unleashed a avalanche that trapped between 30 and 35 people inside the 2.5 km-long Tapovan tunnel - rescue teams finally managed to clear some of the debris