A multi-agency operation to rescue an estimated 34 people trapped inside a big tunnel at Tapovan was carried out overnight after a glacier burst-triggered deluge killed 10 people in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district while over 140 are missing, officials said.
Personnel from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and some state disaster response teams are clearing the tunnel that has been blocked with slush, debris and silt. Around 300 ITBP personnel are currently deployed at the site.
The force has also brought along canine teams that will help them detect lives trapped underneath better.
More teams have been sent to the site on Mi-17 helicopters that landed at the helipad in Joshimath, NDRF chief S N Pradhan said in a Twitter post.