An IAF Mi-17 is carryig NDRF personnel from Dehradun for Joshimath.
A third day of massive search and rescue operation was underway today in Uttarakhand, parts of which were on Sunday hit by massive flooding following a glacier burst. Disaster response teams, along with the armed forces, police, and paramilitary, continued to look for survivors even as Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat conducted an aerial survey of the affected Chamoli area.
#WATCH I Uttarakhand: A joint team of ITBP, Army, NDRF and SDRF enters into the Tapovan tunnel to check the water level inside the tunnel ahead of the point till where the debris has been cleared.
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2021
(Video Source: ITBP) pic.twitter.com/D53UNKp0iI
A tunnel in Chamoli's Tapovan locality, where 35 people are feared trapped, is a focus area; it is hoped that the way will be cleared by noon, state police chief Ashok Kumar told ANI today. The operation is being carried out by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol (ITBP) personnel along with others.
"We're trying to drill and make way via rope to reach them. We have recovered two more bodies, total death count 28 so far," Chief Minister Rawat has said, according to ANI.
#WATCH: Rescue operations underway at the tunnel in Chamoli, Uttarakhand where around 35 people are feared to be trapped.
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2021
(Video Source: Indian Army) pic.twitter.com/Mwj31NDoUR
The ITBP was helping out in Chamoli's Lata, Malaria, Jugaju, and Juwagwar villages, too.
The India Air Force (IAF), meanwhile, said it had commenced operations for the day with an Mi-17 airborne from Dehradun for Joshimath with NDRF personnel on board. An Advanced Light Helicopter was carrying scientists from the DRDO's Defence Geo Informatics Research Establishment to recce the Tapovan area and the glacier, the IAF said, according to ANI.
Nearly 200 people are still missing, besides the 28 dead, following a Himalayan glacier's partial collapse sweeping away a hydroelectric dam down the Rishiganga valley on Sunday and sparking massive flash floods that have forced the evacuation of villages downstream.
Chief Minister Rawat had announced Rs 4 lakh as compensation for those who lost their lives.
