Updated: February 10, 2021 7:36:21 am
With more than two days since the flash flood struck Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, hopes of finding more survivors at the Tapovan and Rishi Ganga power project sites dimmed when rescue agencies recovered six more bodies on Tuesday. .
So far, 32 bodies have been recovered in the region, and more than 170 people remain missing.
DIG Garhwal Neeru Garg said that of the six bodies recovered on Tuesday, four were from the Rishi Ganga power project site in Raini village, one was from Chamoli and one from Nandprayag. Two of the bodies are of police personnel who were deployed to the power plant, he said.
Rescue operations near the village of Raini in Uttarakhand on Tuesday. (Photo: Gajendra Yadav)
In the Tapovan tunnel, the center of rescue operations where 35 people are feared to be trapped, there has been no progress so far, despite the excavators working around the clock to clear the mud in the 1 tunnel, 9 km. Rescue agencies are now implementing advanced technologies, such as a helicopter carrying a laser with an electromagnetic pulse imager for an aerial survey over the tunnel, and a camera drone to be sent into the tunnel.
According to site officials, the Hyderabad-based National Institute for Geophysical Research sent the laser imager, a hexagonal device that is suspended from a helicopter and that detects and measures range with lasers.
On Tuesday, a helicopter with the device made several rounds of the affected area for an aerial reconnaissance. Authorities said the device will help find air pockets inside the tunnel.
We are proud to announce that Jharkhand CM @HemantSorenJMM will be the main guest of the debate ‘Decoding the internal migration of India’ on February 12 at 2:00 p.m.
Register here to join: https://t.co/ngDRKfgS9T pic.twitter.com/7DLIk0HZju
– The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) February 9, 2021
“The blocked area seen in the images is likely muddy. And the presence of airbags will mean that our people can get trapped there and that we will have to get to that point, ”said Manjunath PC, Commander of the Indian Reserve Battalion, who coordinates the rescue operation at the tunnel site.
Manjunath said the presence of airbags will help them determine how much more mud needs to be removed in order for their staff to reach the trapped men. “So far we don’t know how deep the mud is inside the tunnel and how much more area we have to clean up,” Manjunath said.
ITBP ADG Manoj Singh Rawat said that once the airbags are detected, the rescue operation will be planned accordingly. He said his first step would be to supply oxygen through airbags for people trapped inside. He added that technical experts were being involved in the operation.
On Tuesday, a drone with five cameras was sent into the tunnel. While NDRF and ITBP personnel could only go as far as 90 meters into the tunnel until the afternoon, the drone reached 120 meters, flying through a narrow space between the mud and the tunnel ceiling. But officials said the drone footage did not show any human presence on that stretch.
.
