Two more bodies have been recovered from the mud of the Tapovan tunnel, where rescue operations have been carried out since 7 February. The death toll has reached 40, while it is feared that more than 30 people are trapped in the tunnel. Around 160 people are still missing after Sunday’s disaster.
“2 bodies were recovered from the mud of the main tunnel in Tapovan, where the rescue operation was taking place since February 7, and the Uttarakhand police, SDRF and NDRF jawans are pulling the bodies,” DGP Kumar tweeted.
On Saturday, Garhwal Commissioner Ravinath Raman held a meeting with officials from the NTPC, Army, ITBP and NDRF to discuss the challenges in the rescue operation and progress in the ongoing work. An NTPC official said drilling was completed to the depth of 12 meters, but there was not enough room to lower a camera through that. Therefore, today another heavy machine has been put into service to increase the diameter of the perforated area up to 30 cm.
District Magistrate Swati S Bhadauriya said drilling for the rescue operation inside the tunnel was continuing and NDRF personnel began searching for people who went missing near the floodplain at the Tapovan power project site on Saturday.
A team from the State Disaster Response Force inspected the temporary lake formed at an elevation of 3,600 m, about 6 km upstream from the village of Raini. As villagers downstream fear another flash flood due to the lake’s formation, the SDRF team has developed a manual early warning system by deploying teams of personnel to the villages of Pang, Tapovan and Raini. These teams will alert villages via satellite phones and a public address system if an emergency situation arises, authorities said.
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