Death toll due to U'khand glacial break rises to 50 as 12 more bodies found

Dehradun: After 12 bodies were recovered on Sunday from the flash flood-ravaged hydel project sites in Tapovan and Raini of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, taking the death toll in the glacier disaster to 50, said State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).

Even as search and rescue operations were intensified, at least five bodies were recovered from the intake adit tunnel of the NTPC’s 520 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad project, said Aditya Pratap Singh, Deputy Commandant NDRF in Chamoli district. These bodies are the first of the trapped people to be recovered from the site where muck-clearing and drilling operations have been underway on a war-footing since last Sunday.

At least five bodies were recovered from Raini, where a 13.2 MW hydel project along the Rishiganga was destroyed in the calamity, the NDRF said.

The 12 recoveries take the toll in the Uttarakhand glacier disaster to 50, while more than 150 people remain missing, officials said. The bodies have been kept at a temporary mortuary built in Tapovan, officials added.

Two of the bodies have been identified. One person was from Narendra Nagar in Tehri district and another was from Kalsi in Dehradun district, Chamoli District Magistrate Swati S Bhadauria said.

She said a helicopter has been kept ready at the site to provide medical help to survivors, if any.

The NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project had suffered extensive damage in the flash floods, which also demolished the Rishiganga hydel project.

Rescue teams continued widening a hole into the Silt Flushing Tunnel at the project site in Tapovan where around 30 people are believed to be trapped.