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Rescuers in northern India were searching on Monday for more than three dozen workers at a hydroelectric power station, trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and sent a wave of water and debris down the mountain.
More than 2,000 members of the army, paramilitary groups and police were involved in search and rescue operations in the northern state of Uttarkhand after Sunday’s disaster, which killed at least 18 people and 165 disappeared. The flood washed away houses, destroyed one dam and damaged another.
The work focused on rescuing 37 workers stuck in a tunnel at one of the affected hydroelectric plants. Bulldozers were on site to assist in the efforts.
Caught up
“The tunnel is full of rubble, which has come from the river. We are using machines to clear the way,” said H. Gurung, an officer with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, a paramilitary body.
Authorities feared many more deaths and used boats to search for bodies downstream. The officers also scoured the riverbanks on foot and used binoculars in search of bodies that might have been washed away.
#Uttarakhand, #India 🇮🇳 | The districts of #Chamoli, #Srinagar, #Rishikesh Y #War They have the alert status due to the rapid flood (flash flood), which occurred during the early hours of Sunday, February 7, 2021 (Chilean time).
📹 Video compiled by @Indiahoy. pic.twitter.com/25RxRtcvdP
– Geoscientific Network of Chile (@RedGeoChile) February 7, 2021
A landslide on the Nanda Devi glacier on Sunday morning caused flooding by releasing water trapped behind the ice. Experts pointed out that the disaster could be related to global warming, and a team of scientists was sent by air to the scene on Monday to investigate what had happened.
Evacuation
The water ran down the slope at high speed and reached other bodies of water, forcing the evacuation of many villages on the banks of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers.
Videos from the northern state of Uttarakhand showed swollen waters, a murky gray color, dragging through a valley and smashing a dam before proceeding downstream. The floodwaters turned the area into an ash-colored lunar landscape.
A hydroelectric plant on the Alaknanda river was destroyed, and another being built in the Dhauliganga was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for the border police. The two rivers, which flow from the Himalayan mountains, converge before joining the Ganges.
Rescue
The trapped workers were at the Dhauliganga plant, where 12 other employees were rescued from another tunnel Sunday.
Three people died and about 150 are missing after the rupture of a glacier in the Himalayas that caused a sudden flood of a river in northern India. The Emergency and Rescue services launched a massive rescue operation.
🎥 @ITBP_oficial pic.twitter.com/YSMednxmUa
– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) February 7, 2021
A government member told The Associated Press that they did not know the total number of people working on the Dhauliganga site. “The number of missing can go up or down,” SA Murugesan said.
Pandey reported 165 workers missing between the two plants on Monday, not counting those trapped in the tunnel, and at least 18 bodies located.
Those rescued on Sunday were taken to a hospital, where they were recovering.
One of them, Rakesh Bhatt, told The Associated Press that they were working on the tunnel when the water entered.
Stories
“We thought it could be rain and the water would recede. But when we saw mud and debris coming in at high speed we realized that something big had happened,” he explained.
One of the workers was able to contact authorities on his cell phone, Bhatt said.
“We waited almost six hours, praying to God and joking with each other to keep our spirits up. I was the first to be rescued and it was a great relief,” he said.
Pray of #RishiGanga Hydroelectric project on the Alaknanda river in the Tapovan area of the Chamoli district of #Uttarakhand it broke an hour ago when the glacier collapses due to global warming.
And yet we want to build dams in eco-sensitive areas: ((@GretaThunberg @ parent4future pic.twitter.com/JcUuXdeMlm
– Fridays For Future India (@fridays_india) February 7, 2021
In the Himalayan area where Sunday’s flood occurred there are a number of hydroelectric projects on various rivers and their tributaries. Authorities said they could save other plants further down because they had acted in time to open the floodgates to release water.
The floods also damaged homes, although details on how many had been affected or if neighbors were injured, missing or killed were unclear. Authorities said they were trying to determine whether there were missing people in the villages along the two rivers.
Authorities dropped packages of food and medicine from the air in at least two affected villages.
Neighbors
Many residents from nearby towns work at the Dhauliganga plant, Murugesan said, but as it was Sunday there were fewer people working than on weekdays.
“The only consolation for us is that the casualties in nearby towns are much lower,” he said.
Personal of @ITBP_oficial rescues a person who was trapped in the tunnel near the Tapovan Dam in #Chamoli, #India, following the devastating flood caused by a glacier detachment in #Uttarakhand. 3 dead and 150 missing have already been confirmed. @MobileIndiaNews pic.twitter.com/Cnz7MU0PyR
– Edna Jaramillo G. (@EdnaJaramillotv) February 7, 2021
Some pointed to climate change as a factor in the disaster, given its known role in the melting and collapse of the world’s glaciers, although other factors can also cause glacial detachments, such as erosion, earthquakes, accumulated water pressure and volcanic eruptions.
While the exact cause of the incident is unknown at the moment, “this is seen a lot like a climate change event, as glaciers are melting from global warming,” said Anjal Prakash, research director and associate professor at the Indian School of Business, and has contributed to United Nations sponsored research on global warming.
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