At least 171 people are missing and 26 have died in northern India after part of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river sending a devastating avalanche of water, dust and rocks down a mountain gorge, and crashing though a dam.
Rescue teams worked through the night to find survivors trapped under the debris. Most of the missing are workers from two hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, which were hit by the avalanche.
Footage from Sunday’s disaster shows a fast-moving wall of water and rocks barreling down a narrow gorge and smashing through a dam at the smaller hydroelectric project before surging downstream, wiping out buildings trees and people.
Ashok Kumar, Uttarakhand’s police chief, told CNN on Monday that 26 bodies had been recovered in the affected region. He said a further 171 people were still missing, including 35 workers who are believed to be trapped inside a tunnel at the larger, state-owned hydroelectric project.
Some 2,500 people in 13 villages were initially cut off by the flash floods sparked by the glacier’s collapse, Ashok Kumar, senior official with the Uttarakhand police said Monday.
Rescuers had reached all 13 villages by Monday afternoon and relief work is now underway in them, Kumar said.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts are focused on clearing sludge and debris from the tunnel where the 35 workers are thought to be trapped. Rescuers managed to clear the mouth of the tunnel on Monday, according to a Twitter post from the Uttarakhand State Press Information Bureau.
Source: 177 people feared dead after glacier burst through dam in possible ‘climate event’
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