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198 people are still missing after the collapse of a glacier in Uttarakhand, India. The bodies of 32 people have been recovered as of Tuesday. The country’s army, ITBP, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force are conducting around 600 rescue operations. This information has been reported in local Indian media.
The country’s popular media outlet Anandabazar reported that around 60 hours had passed since the incident. Rescuers are still having trouble entering the two-and-a-half-kilometer-long tunnel. The mouth of the tunnel was muddy, stuck in the rocks. Citing members of the rescue team, the media reported that large stones were stuck inside the tunnel, making it difficult to clean and enter.
The 12 to 15 foot part of the tunnel is known to be like the English letter ‘U’. This curve and the fact that there is only one way to enter the tunnel only compounds the problem. As a result, rescuers have a difficult time identifying if someone is trapped inside.
ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey told PTI that work had been going on overnight to remove mud and stones inside the tunnel. The path has been cleared 120 meters from the entrance. The height of the piles of mud and stones that have been blocked to the roof of the tunnel has been reduced. ITBP members are expected to be able to join soon. However, he was afraid there would be enough trouble to do this.
An official with the country’s State Disaster Response Force said rescue efforts were slowing to clean up the amount of mud and rocks that had accumulated inside the tunnel. However, he said they were trying to get in quickly.
On the other hand, members of the army, ITBP, have begun to deliver food, water and medicine to isolated villages. The towns of Reni, Pang, Lata, Suraithota, Suki, Valgaon, Tolma, Fagrasu, Gohar, Long Segdi, Bhangul, Juguewar and Jugju were completely isolated due to Sunday’s disaster. Chief Minister Tribendra Singh Rawat said that ITBP members walked between 5 and 6 km on the road to deliver food, medicine and drinks to the village.
Anandabazar said two teams of scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) in Dehradun arrived in Chamoli on Tuesday to investigate the cause of the incident.
Source: Anandabazar.
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