Uttarakhand glacier burst: 26 bodies recovered, 197 still missing, says SDRF

As many as 26 bodies have been recovered from different areas that were affected by the glacier burst in Chamoli district in Uttarakhand, while 197 people are still missing, said State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) on Monday.

SDRF in a statement said that people who were reported missing after the glacier burst and have survived the tragedy are coming forward to report their presence to the administration.

"So far 5 people have come forward and reported their presence to administration. Around 35 more people are stuck in a tunnel and efforts are on to rescue them," said SDRF.

Meanwhile, the rescue operation is underway at Tapovan tunnel, Joshimath in Uttarakhand, where Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) team will work overnight to take out debris and try to find survivors from the tunnel.

ITBP personnel of the 8th Battalion of the force carried nearly 100 bags of ration and utility items from Lata village base (Temporary Helipad) and control station to villages of Jugaju and Juwagwar on Monday. These villages got cut-off from connectivity due to floods in Dhauliganga in the state.

Moreover, two helipad activation teams of Indian Air Force Air Traffic Control and Meteorological personnel are at Joshimath and Gaucher for coordination of high availability disaster recovery (HADR) operations.

"Two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) are forward staged at Gauchar (Uttarakhand), while Mi-17s, Chinook and ALH are operating from Dehradun," Indian Air Force said in a statement.

Rescue operations continued throughout the day even on the second day of the disaster in Chamoli district on Monday.

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat directed the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to release Rs 20 crore funds to carry out rescue and relief operations in the state.

A glacier broke in the Tapovan-Reni area of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand on Sunday, which led to massive flooding in Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers and damaged houses and the nearby Rishiganga power project.

(ANI)

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