The death toll from the catastrophe that took place in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on February 7 has reached 43 as five more bodies were discovered from the Tapovan tunnel a week later, on Sunday morning. Exactly one week ago, a glacier burst in the Joshimath district triggered massive flooding of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers that wreaked havoc in the state. The search operation has been rampant ever since then and has lead to the discovery of more bodies while many are still missing.
The rescue mission was intensified on Saturday morning with rescuers beginning boring a wider and deeper hole into the tunnel at the flood-ravaged Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project with the belief that at least 30 people are trapped inside.
“There is no water or slush pressure observed in the silt-flushing tunnel. However, the camera could not be inserted due to the presence of slush. Drilling of a larger diameter hole has been planned now. Meanwhile mucking from the intake adit tunnel is in progress. The diameter of bore hole shall be 250-300 mm,” National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Tapovan, General Manager, R P Ahirwal said giving an update on the drilling operation at the tunnel.
Meanwhile, rescuers said that they believe more survivors are trapped inside the tunnel and they are hopeful of rescuing them despite numerous challenges like the muck and the water from Dhauli Ganga constantly flowing into the tunnels.