India
oi-Briti Roy Barman
Dehradun, February 14: Three bodies were recovered from the Tapovan tunnel on Sunday after a seven-day operation to rescue about 30 people trapped in it after a flash flood in the Joshimath area of the Chamoli district, senior officials said.
These are the first bodies recovered from the tunnel where people worked when the calamity occurred last Sunday.
Recoveries bring the death toll from the disaster to 41. A massive search and rescue operation has been carried out in the tunnel at the Hydel Tapovan-Vishnugad project site.
NDRF commander RK Tiwari said the three bodies recovered Sunday were found in the Adit tunnel where mud was being cleaned up. Two of the bodies have been identified.
One hails from Narendra Nagar in Tehri district and another from Kalsi in Dehradun district, said Chamoli District Magistrate Swati S Bhadauria.
He said a ready helicopter had been kept at the site to provide medical aid to survivors, if any. NTPC’s hydel Tapovan-Vishnugad project had suffered extensive damage in the flash flood that also demolished the Rishiganga hydel project.
Rescuers continued to widen a hole in the sediment washing tunnel at the project site in Tapovan, where around 30 people are believed to be trapped.
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