Effort to rescue 39 workers trapped inside tunnel continues a day after Uttarakhand glacier burst

Workers from an NTPC thermal power plant were trapped inside a 12-foot high and 15-foot wide tunnel at Tapovan in Chamoli which was was blocked with slush and debris due to the glacier burst.

The tunnel is over 2.5 km long with just one entry and bifurcates into two, officials said.

According to the officers, it was hard to tell where the workers were trapped or whether they were together at all.

An official said it was believed that 34 people were trapped in one of the offshoots and five in the other.

There has been no contact with any of them so far.

"It will be a 24X7 operation," the official said.

Earthmovers and shovels were used by hundreds of personnel and locals during the night-long mission to unclog the tunnel's opening.

In the day, personnel held sticks to get a better grip as they entered the sludge-filled tunnel, said reports.

Teams are on standby with dragon light sets, oxygen cylinders and stretchers to provide immediate help to those brought out.

Relief and rescue operations are being conducted with a joint effort of Army, Navy, Airforce and NDRF teams.

At least 12 workers were rescued from a smaller tunnel in the same area on Sunday evening.

On Sunday, scores of hutments and residential houses were washed away in the flash floods, triggered by the breach of a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier at around 1045 hrs, flooding the Alaknanda river.

The gushing river water uprooted hundreds of trees that came in its way.

The flow of water from the country's tallest dam - Tehri dam - was stopped, to facilitate the smooth passage of rising waters on Rishi Ganga and Alaknanda.
All the villages and low lying areas on the banks were immediately vacated after the disaster and water flow from Srinagar dam was increased to manage higher water flows.

A 13.3 MW Rishiganga Power Project plant, which came in way of flash floods, was completely destroyed.