32 dead, 174 remain missing 3 days after Indian glacier disaster
Indian rescuers today penetrated deeper through tonnes of rocks and slush to reach 35 power project workers trapped inside a tunnel as the toll in the glacial burst and flash flood in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district rose to 32.
Meanwhile 174 still remained untraced, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting the State Emergency Operation Centre.
The rescuers are "hoping against hope" to find the workers of the state-owned Tapovan power project who are missing for over three days now.
With every minute passing by, the concern about the safety of these men is mounting.
As per the latest updates provided by the State Emergency Operation Centre, 32 bodies have been recovered from different places in the disaster-hit areas while 174 are still missing.
Officials on the ground and those monitoring the rescue from Delhi said continuous accumulation of slush and silt inside the tunnel is the biggest hurdle for rescuers.
"Heavy machines have removed more slush from the tunnel the whole night and entered into the tunnel this morning. The problem is that the tunnel is approachable till about 120 metres but more slush and water keep coming from inside the tunnel," Indo-Tibetan Border Police spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said in Delhi.
Measures like drilling to take oxygen to those trapped inside the tunnel are being contemplated, project consultant AK Shrivastava said at the site in Tapovan.
Family members of those trapped in the tunnel are spending hours in anxiety about their kin.
The multi-agency group of rescuers also flew a camera-equipped drone inside the tunnel on yesterday but due to darkness, it could not pinpoint the location of survivors or the way forward, a senior National Disaster Response Force officer said.
"We are still hopeful. The teams will continue making attempts, clearing the slush to enter deeper into the tunnel and locate the trapped," he said.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police has deployed about 450 of its personnel, apart from those in the army, and disaster response forces.
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