After brief halt, rescue ops restart to save 35 in tunnel
After a brief pause in rescue operations due to the rising water levels in the river Rishi Ganga, the security forces and disaster management teams resumed their efforts to save people stuck in Tapovan tunnel and those buried under the landslides and silt. The Uttarakhand government said the bodies of 35 persons have been recovered so far, out of the 204 who are missing. Of these, 10 have been identified.
Rescuers from multiple agencies like the ITBP, NDRF and the Army are trying to penetrate deeper through tonnes of silt to reach out to workers trapped inside the Tapovan tunnel. Apart from drones and canines, the relief teams are also using sonar systems to find survivors or bodies in the areas that have high water levels.
The ITBP troops have been carrying rations to villages cut off from the main routes. On Thursday, they helped in the construction of the Jhula bridge across Dhauli Ganga to link village Bhangyul. Chinook helicopters were utilised to transport men, material and heavy loads towards rescue operations, and 14 passengers and 1,400 kg relief load was carried for the NDRF and SDRF. In addition, 3T load and five personnel of the BRO were also transported to forward locations by the Indian Air Force.
Search operations are going on from Raini village in Chamoli till
Srinagar. However, the centre of operations, after the Sunday disaster in the border district of Chamoli, remains the large tunnel where an estimated 30-35 workers are believed to have been trapped after the Alakananda river hurtled down in spate as a result of a possible glacier burst or avalanche in the Himalayas. The rescuers are “hoping against hope” to find the workers of Tapovan power project, who are missing for over four days now. With every minute passing, concern about the safety of these men is mounting. Officials on the ground said the continuous accumulation of slush and silt inside the tunnel is the biggest hurdle for the rescuers.
“Heavy machines have removed more slush from the tunnel the whole night. A joint team of ITBP, NDRF, SDRF and sister agencies entered the tunnel this morning. The tunnel is approachable till about 120 metres but more slush and water coming from inside the tunnel is making the way ahead difficult,” ITBP spokesman Vivek Kumar Pandey said.
Measures like drilling to take oxygen to those trapped inside the tunnel are being contemplated. The over 1,500-metre tunnel has become the focal point of rescue operations, even as thw family members of those trapped inside spend hours outside with bated breath to hear some good news about their relatives.