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Footage from local TV channels shows water gushing towards a dam in the state of Uttarakhand, washing away parts of it.
Dozens of people are feared dead in India after a Himalayan glacier broke apart and crashed into a hydroelectric dam, with people hurriedly being evacuated amid rising water levels on a nearby river.
Footage from TV channels and news agency ANI showed water gushing towards the dam in the northern state of Uttarakhand on Sunday, washing away parts of it and whatever else was in its path.
“There was a cloud of dust as the water went by. The ground shook like an earthquake,” local inhabitant Om Agarwal told Indian TV.
Speaking to reporters at a press briefing in Dehra Dun, the capital of Uttarakhand state, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said “seven bodies have been recovered from the site and rescue operations are going on”.
Om Prakash, Uttarakhand’s chief secretary, said earlier as many as 150 people were feared dead but “the actual number has not been confirmed yet”.
This general view shows state-run NTPC hydropower project site damaged after a broken glacier caused a major river surge that swept away bridges and roads, near Joshimath in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, on February 7, 2021 [Ajay Bhatt/AFP]
Most of the missing were workers at two power plants that were battered by the deluge, caused by a huge chunk of glacier that slipped off a mountainside further upstream, said Uttarakhand’s police chief Ashok Kumar.
“There were 50 workers at Rishi Ganga plant and we have no information about them. Some 150 workers were at Tapovan,” he added. “About 20 are trapped inside a tunnel. We are trying to reach the trapped workers.”
With the main road washed away, the tunnel was filled with mud and rocks and paramilitary rescuers had to climb down a hillside on ropes to get access to the entrance.
Hundreds of troops and paramilitaries along with military helicopters and other aircraft have been sent to the region.
Kumar also said authorities had evacuated other dams to contain the water rushing in from the flooded Alakananda river.
A witness said he saw a wall of dust, rocks and water as an avalanche roared down a river valley.
“It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone,” Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of Raini village, told the Reuters news agency by phone. “I felt that even we would be swept away.”
Villages on hillsides overlooking the sacred river were evacuated, but authorities later said the main flood danger had passed.
Local authorities reported that districts including Pauri, Tehri, Rudraprayag, Haridwar and Dehradun were put on high alert.
PM @narendramodi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the tragic avalanche caused by a Glacier breach in Chamoli, Uttrakhand. Rs. 50,000 would be given to those seriously injured.
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 7, 2021
World Opinions News / agencies
