Families join search for survivors in India

At least 32 dead, 165 missing after flash flood in Himalayas

JOSHIMATH, India — As hundreds of rescue workers scoured muckfilled ravines and valleys on Tuesday looking for survivors after the sudden collapse of a Himalayan glacier, distraught relatives gathered at the disaster site to search for family members, almost resigned to the likelihood they were dead.

The disaster was set off when part of a glacier near Nanda Devi mountain broke off Sunday morning, unleashing a devastating flood that left at least 32 people dead and 165 missing.

Scientists are investigating what caused the glacier to break — possibly an avalanche or a release of accumulated water. Experts say climate change worldwide may be to blame since warming temperatures are shrinking glaciers and making them unstable.

Floodwater, mud and boulders roared down the mountain along the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers, breaking dams, sweeping away bridges and forcing the evacuation of many villages, turning the countryside into an ash-colored moonscape.

It also swept away a small hydroelectric project and damaged a larger one downstream on the Dhauliganga. Flowing out of the Himalayan mountains, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges River.

One of the major rescue efforts is focused on a tunnel at a hydroelectric power plant where more than three dozen workers have been out of contact since the flood. Rescuers used excavators and shovels to clear sludge from the tunnel in an attempt to reach the workers as hopes for their survival faded.

In the distance, some families tried to identify their loved ones and grieved for the dead.

No one has been rescued from the tunnel since Sunday,

with chances for a miracle declining. It could still take days or weeks before many bodies are found.

“There is nothing left here,” said Rani Devi, who wandered the disaster site searching for her husband three days after water from the collapsed glacier barreled down the Alaknanda and swept away the hydroelectric power plant where he worked.

Devi, 48, traveled almost 435 miles from neighboring Himachal Pradesh state after hearing about the tragedy on TV. On Tuesday, she walked through the reddish-brown mud, from one government official to another, hoping for any news about her husband. There was none.