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Rescue teams in northern India were working on Monday to rescue more than three dozen power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and sent a wall of water and debris towards the mountain.
More than 2,000 members of the armed forces, paramilitary groups and police have participated in search and rescue operations in the northern state of Uttarakhand after Sunday’s disaster, which left at least 11 dead, more than 150 missing and damaged buildings. dams. and downstream households.
A huge flood of water, mud and debris flows into the Chamoli district after a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke in the Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand.
Authorities said the goal was to save 37 workers who are trapped inside a tunnel at one of the affected hydroelectric plants. Bulldozers had been brought in to help with the efforts.
“The tunnel is full of debris, which comes from the river. We are using machines to clear the way, ” said H. Gurung, a senior official with the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
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Authorities fear many more are dead and were searching downstream for bodies using boats. They also walked along the banks of the river and used binoculars to search for bodies that may have been washed downstream.
Indian rescue teams have struggled to reach the trapped victims after part of a glacier in the Himalayas broke loose and released a torrent of water and debris that crashed into two hydroelectric plants.
A video from the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand showed muddy concrete gray waters tumbling through a valley and turning into a dam, breaking it into pieces with little resistance before roaring downstream.
The flood turned the field into what looked like an ash-colored lunar landscape.
AP
People inspect the site near the damaged Dhauliganga hydroelectric project in Reni village.
The flooding was caused when a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off Sunday morning, releasing water trapped behind it, authorities said. It rushed down the mountain into other bodies of water, forcing the evacuation of many villages along the banks of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers.
A hydroelectric plant in Alaknanda was destroyed and a plant under construction in Dhauliganga was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
The trapped workers were at the Dhauliganga plant, where on Sunday 12 workers were rescued from a separate tunnel.
A senior government official told The Associated Press that they do not know the total number of people working on the Dhauliganga project. “The number of missing persons can go up or down,” SA Murugesan said.
More than 2,000 members of the armed forces, paramilitary groups and the police participated in the search and rescue operation after the flood.
Pandey said Monday that 153 workers at the two plants were missing and at least 11 bodies were recovered.
Those rescued on Sunday were taken to a hospital, where they were recovering.
One of the rescued workers, Rakesh Bhatt, told The Associated Press that they were working in the tunnel when water entered.
“We think it could be rain and the water will recede. But when we saw mud and debris come in at high speed, we realized that something big had happened, ” he said.
Bhatt said one of the workers was able to contact the officials via his mobile phone.
“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 such a relief, ” he said.
The Himalayan area where Sunday’s flood hit has a string of hydroelectric projects on several rivers and their tributaries. Authorities said they were able to save other power units downstream due to timely measures taken to release water by opening the floodgates.
Flowing from the Himalayan mountains, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges River.
“Rescuers used ropes and shovels to reach the tunnel mouth. They dug through the rubble and entered the tunnel. They have not yet contacted the stranded people,” Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said. elect of Uttarakhand.
The floods also damaged houses, said Ravi Bejaria, a government spokesman, though he had no details on the number and whether any of the residents were injured, missing or killed.
“It all started around 10 in the morning. We heard a crash that shook our village,” Dinesh Negi, a resident of Raini village, told The Associated Press by phone. He said they watched from the top of one of the rivers as the water turned muddy and turned into a torrent.
“We knew something bad had happened,” Negi said. “We could see the fury of the river.”
The video showed rescuers in camouflage uniforms and bright yellow or red helmets, using ropes to reach victims. A man who was pulled out of a muddy hole threw his arms into the air and rescuers laughed and rejoiced with him. Rescuers comforted the victims who were lying on a row of stretchers outside.
Scientists have long known that the global warning is contributing to the melting and breaking of the world’s glaciers.
Anjal Prakash, director of research and adjunct professor at the Indian School of Business who has contributed to the UN-sponsored research on global warming, said that while data on the cause of the disaster was not yet available, “this it looks a lot like a climate change event as the glaciers are melting due to global warming. “
Uttarakhand Police Chief Ashok Kumar said officials immediately alerted residents in the area and evacuated them to safer locations. Popular tourist spots downstream on the banks of the Ganges were closed and all boating activities stopped.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that “the nation prays for the safety of all” in Uttarakhand.
In 2013, thousands of people died in Uttarakhand after heavy rains caused landslides and floods, washing away thousands of houses and roads and cutting off communications in many places.
