Rescue operations continued after dark Tuesday, February 9 in northern India to try to extract 34 employees of hydraulic power stations stranded in a tunnel after a devastating flood attributed to the rupture of a Himalayan glacier, which has at least 32 dead while more than 170 people remain missing. “It’s a race against time. We hope they survive, but we have not made any contact so far, ”said Vivek Sahai, an army rescuer.
Hundreds of rescuers
Two days after the disaster, attributed to the rupture of a glacier due to global warming, but also to the construction of dams, the dredging of the bed of rivers to extract the sand intended for the construction industry and the cutting of trees to make new roads, the search for survivors was in full swing in this valley of the small state of Uttarakhan, located on the Indo-Tibetan border. Bridges, roads and two hydroelectric power stations were washed away. Hundreds of rescuers take part in the operation, aided by helicopters equipped with high-tech cameras, as well as sniffer dogs.
Most of the missing are employees of two power plants in Tapovan, 34 of whom were still stuck in a 2.7-kilometer U-shaped tunnel on Tuesday, now filled with mud, rocks and various rubbish carried by the devastating flood. 20 meters high. Twelve people were rescued at one end of the structure on Sunday, with the others stranded at the other end, Banudutt Nair, a police officer in charge of the rescue operation, told Agence France-Presse. Hundreds of workers tried to clear the access to the tunnel all night from Monday to Tuesday and continued their work Tuesday evening. They managed to clear 120 meters of tunnel.
“Like a disaster movie”
“We are trying to clear the slush inside the tunnel, but it is difficult,” said a person in charge of rescue operations, PK Tiwari. “We are trying to use drones and other equipment to get a clearer picture of the situation inside.” “The work will last day and night. There will be no break ”, promised the local person in charge of bridges and roadways, AS Rathod.
Rescuers are hopeful that air pockets have formed inside the tunnel, where workers may have taken refuge and still be alive. A huge digger struggled through the mud. Behind her, rescuers sifted through the site in search of survivors or corpses. Nearby, workers were using another excavator to clear rocks blocking access to the Rishi Ganga power station. Completely destroyed, all that remains of her is a wasteland covered in brown and gray mud. Nearby, a concrete bridge was completely washed away.
In a nearby village, four lifeless bodies were found on Tuesday, including that of a police officer. “Suddenly, there was a whistle (…) There were screams, people were telling us to get out. We thought there was a fire. We started to run, but the water gushed out. It was like a Hollywood disaster film, ”said 28-year-old Rajesh Kumar from his hospital bed to Agence France-Presse. He and others clung to the stems of a scaffolding for four hours before managing to escape the tunnel once the water level fell.
Swallowed up by the flood
Ramesh Negi, a trader, was enjoying a great morning sun on Sunday when he heard a deafening rumble accompanying a huge wall of water, which crashed into a bridge immediately wiped off the map. Dozens of workers building a dam in the river bed, as well as shepherds with their cattle on the mountainsides, were engulfed by the flood, he recalls.
“On all sides, it was only dust and screams,” said the 36-year-old man to Agence France-Presse. “We tried to alert the pastoralists but they were blown away by the force of the wind, before being submerged by water and melted snow. We couldn’t predict what happened ”. In front of the tunnel, cuts and scrapes on his hands and legs, Mangra, a 28-year-old survivor, told Agence France-Presse: “It was as if the mountain was crashing and the Earth was moving” .
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