New Delhi: A multi-agency rescue operation is still on in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli region which was hit by a massive flood following the Nanda Devi glacier burst at Joshimath on Sunday. As per the reports of ANI, 8 bodies have been recovered so far from the rescue operation in Tapovan’s Dhauliganga, while 170 labourers — 148 employed at the NTPC plant and 22 at Rishiganga are still missing.
The incident came as a grim reminder of the Kedarnath deluge of 2013 which led to widespread devastation in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region. A devastating natural disaster in the form of torrential rains of unseen magnitude had struck Kedarnath on 16-17 June in 2013.
But, unlike the Kedarnath tragedy which struck after a downpour, the flash flood on Sunday occurred on a bright and sunny morning which helped in relief and rescue operations by police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, SDRF members are waiting for the level of the Mandakini river to lower so that they can commence rescue operations for the people who’re stranded in the tunnel. Yesterday, ITBP personnel had rescued all 16 people trapped in a tunnel. In the video sourced by ITBP, the rescue personnel can be heard sloganeering ‘Zor laga k Haisha’, ‘bahut badhiya’, ‘shabaash’, ‘jo bole so nihaal’ and ‘jai ho’ as they successfully pulled out the man from inside the tunnel.