Rescuers in India continue to dig for 37 trapped in glacier flood
RUDRAPRAYAG, INDIA — Rescuers in northern India worked 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 rushing down a mountain in a disaster that has left at least 26 people dead and 165 missing.
More than 2,000 members of the military, paramilitary groups and police have been taking part in search-and-rescue operations in the northern state of Uttarakhand after Sunday’s flood, which destroyed one dam, damaged another and washed homes downstream.
Officials said the focus was on saving 37 workers who are stuck inside a tunnel at one of the affected hydropower plants.
Heavy equipment was brought in to help clear the way through a 2.5-kilometre-long tunnel and reach the workers, who have been out of contact since the flood.
Authorities fear many more people are dead and were searching for bodies downstream using boats. They also walked along river banks and used binoculars to scan for bodies that might have been washed downstream.
The flood was caused when a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier snapped off Sunday morning, releasing water trapped behind it.
Experts said the disaster could be linked to global warming and a team of scientists was flown to the site Monday to investigate what happened.
The floodwater rushed down the mountain and into other bodies of water, forcing the evacuation of many villages along the banks of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers.
Video showed the muddy, concrete-grey floodwaters tumbling through a valley and surging into a dam, breaking it into pieces with little resistance before roaring on downstream.
It turned the countryside into what looked like an ash-coloured moonscape.