Rescuers dig for crews trapped by glacier flood
Ice gave way Sunday; dozens known dead
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 trapped in a tunnel at one of the affected hydropower plants. Heavy equipment was brought in to help clear the way through a 1.5-mile tunnel and reach the workers, who have been out of contact since the flood.
“The tunnel is filled with debris, which has come from the river. We are using machines to clear the way,” said H. Gurung, a senior official of the paramilitary Indo Tibetan Border Police.
Authorities feared many more people were dead and were using boats to search for bodies downstream. They also walked along riverbanks and used binoculars to scan for bodies.
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.
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 muddy, concrete-gray floodwaters tumbling through a valley and surging into a dam, quickly breaking it to pieces, before roaring downstream. It turned the countryside into what looked like an ash-colored moonscape.
A hydroelectric plant on the Alaknanda was destroyed, and a plant under construction on the Dhauliganga was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, an Indo Tibetan Border Police spokesman. Flowing out of the Himalayan mountains, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges River.
The trapped workers were at the Dhauliganga plant, where 12 workers were rescued from a separate tunnel Sunday.
Those rescued Sunday were taken to a hospital, where they were recovering.
A senior government official told the Associated Press that they don’t know the total number of people who were working in the Dhauliganga project. “The number of missing people can go up or come down,” S.A. Murugesan said.
Pandey said Monday that 165 workers at the two plants, not including those trapped in the tunnel, were missing and that at least 26 bodies had been recovered.
One of the rescued workers, Rakesh Bhatt, told the Associated Press they were working in the tunnel when water rushed in.
Pedro Gomez, an ESPN reporter whose rise to prominence included a stint as a sports columnist for The Arizona Republic, died on Sunday. He was 58.
“Pedro was far more than a media personality,” the Gomez family said in a statement released by ESPN. “He was a dad, loving husband, loyal friend, coach and mentor. He was our everything and his kids’ biggest believer. He died unexpectedly at home this afternoon.”
Gomez was a fearless and dogged reporter who was not afraid of asking tough questions or reporting difficult stories. A longtime baseball reporter, he was a beloved presence in both press boxes and clubhouses over his 30 years covering the game.
Gomez joined The Republic shortly before the Diamondbacks began play in 1998, leading the paper’s baseball coverage as a national writer.
“His baseball expertise immediately elevated our coverage,” said Republic News Director Kathy Tulumello, who was the paper’s sports editor when Gomez was hired in 1997. “His enthusiasm would light up a room, and his love of the game and the people in it was so evident in everything he did.”
Gomez ascended to the role of sports columnist before leaving for ESPN in 2003, though he remained a Phoenix resident. He rose to national prominence with ESPN for his coverage of Barry Bonds’ chase of Henry Aaron’s home-run record amid baseball’s growing steroid scandal.
Gomez is survived by his wife, Sandra, two sons, Rio and Dante, and daughter, Sierra. Rio Gomez is a pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization who advanced to High-A in 2019.
The son of Cuban refugees, Gomez grew up in Miami and attended the University of Miami. He covered the Oakland Athletics for the San Jose Mercury News and The Sacramento Bee during the 1990s. Between those stints, he worked as a national baseball writer for the Miami Herald.
During his time at The Republic, Go
mez wrote eloquently about his Cuban roots, including an award-winning series in 1999 that retraced his parents’ journey as they fled Cuba for Miami while his mother was pregnant with him. The story coincided with an historic exhibition the Baltimore Orioles played against the Cuban national team, but Gomez added a personal touch.
“His parents had fled the island with essentially nothing but the clothes on their backs,” said Republic reporter John D’Anna, who edited Gomez’s reporting from Cuba.
“Pedro was able to find the home they lived in and talk with people who remembered them. The thing that made the series was that while the baseball game in its own right was historic, Pedro used it as the backdrop for his personal narrative and told this rich, personal story that was a million times better.”
He also did not shy away from writing critical stories.
He wrote a scathing column about Curt Schilling that ran the day Schilling was scheduled to pitch Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, calling out the Diamondbacks pitcher for throwing manager Bob Brenly under the bus days earlier.
Gomez wrote, “The past few days also have offered the country insight into Schilling’s little secret, the one baseball insiders have known for years, but one that has rarely surfaced publicly.
“Schilling is something of a con man, someone more intent on polishing his image through whatever means available,
which usually has meant attaching himself to certain members of the media and leaking insights he wants in the open.”
“That column earned him nationwide respect,” said Mark Gonzales, The Republic’s Diamondbacks writer at the time who worked alongside Gomez dating back to their days together in the Bay Area in the 1990s. “When you’re covering a World Series that involves the team you cover, you’re on the big stage and you better bring it because everybody is reading you. I don’t think Pedro disappointed anyone among his brethren.”
Gomez was well-regarded in baseball clubhouses, as well. He seemed to have a way of connecting with every player in the room, and even earned their respect when he wrote critical pieces.
“He understood the game,” former Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez said. “And he told it as it is. He didn’t have any fear of anybody in the clubhouse. If there was a story, he was going to write about it. I think, as a player, you respect that. And if he wrote a (negative) story about a player, he would be there the next day if the player wanted to talk about it. He wasn’t confrontational or anything, but he was true to his words and what he felt."
Gomez was a positive influence on aspiring journalists. He also visited schools, including those in predominantly Latino communities, to provide encouragement.
“It’s a sad day for the Valley," Gonzalez said. "I’m still in shock; I just talked to him last week. He’s always so energetic and so good to people. He was a people person. Loved being around people.”
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