Rescue & search operation for people trapped inside tunnel at tapovan area in Chamoli district

In Uttarakhand, rescue and search operation for the 25 to 35 trapped people inside the tunnel continued unabated through the night at the tapovan area of Chamoli district. The flash flood had hit the power project at Tapovan on Sunday morning.Till date 34 bodies have been recovered and around 170 people are still missing.

Agencies are now looking for other ways to reach deeper inside the tunnel to people feared to be trapped inside for the last 4 days. The rescue team comprising ITBP, NDRF and other agencies cleared the slush whole night. They moved ahead cutting the loose ends of pipes and wires of the tunnel taking help of the tunnel in marking of the tunnel inside.

Late night DGP of State Ashok Kumar said that the rescue teams are now going to start the drilling operation to peep into the tunnel 12 meters below. Yesterday a high level meeting of all agencies involved in rescue and search



operations was held in Joshimath to review the rescue and relief strategy ahead since it has become very difficult to move ahead in the tunnel due to big boulders and backflow of slush and water.

Meanwhile Governor of the state Baby Rani Maurya will visit the calamity site this afternoon and take stock of the situation.

Yesterday MP from Uttarakhand and BJP National media head Anil Baluni raised the issue of natural calamity in Chamoli district in the upper house. He said the incidents of heavy landslide, glacier burst and cloud burst have increased in the Himalayan zone and requested the Earth science ministry to conduct thorough study of the reasons behind these incidents so that the state could develop the disaster mechanism accordingly. He said that the Doppler radars are being setup in Uttarakhand region for better prediction of the weather.