Rescuers struggled to reach the victims trapped on Sunday after part of a glacier in the Himalayas burst and released a torrent of water and debris that hit two hydroelectric plants. At least nine people have died and 140 are missing in a disaster that experts say seems to point to global warming.
Video from the state of Uttarakhand, in northern India, showed muddy and concrete ash floods falling through a valley and turning into a dam, breaking it into pieces with little resistance before roaring downstream. The flooding turned the field into what appeared to be a lunar landscape of gray.
More than 2,000 military, paramilitary and police groups participated in the search and rescue operation, including mountaineering soldiers, working late into the night under bright halogen lights, officials said.
The flood was caused when a part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke in the morning, releasing water trapped behind it, officials said. He descended the mountain and entered other waterways, forcing the evacuation of many villages along the banks of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers.
A hydroelectric plant in Alaknanda was destroyed and a plant under construction in Dhauliganga was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for the paramilitary police on the Indo-Tibetan border. Flowing from the Himalayan mountains, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges.
Pandey said at least 42 workers were trapped in the tunnels of the Dhauliganga project. Twelve were rescued from one of the tunnels, while at least 30 others were trapped inside the other, he said.
“Rescuers used ropes and shovels to reach the mouth of the tunnel. They dug into the rubble and entered the tunnel. They have not yet come into contact with those arrested, ”said Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Uttarakhand’s top elected official.
Another 140 workers at the two factories were missing, Pandey said. Surjeet Singh, a police officer, said at least nine bodies were recovered.
The Himalayan area has a chain of hydroelectric projects on several rivers and their tributaries. Rawat said the authorities were able to save other power units downstream due to the timely action taken to release water by opening gates.
The floods also damaged homes, said Ravi Bejaria, a government spokesman, although he has no details on the number and whether any residents were injured, missing or killed.
“It all started around 10 am. We heard a crash that shook our village, ”Dinesh Negi, a resident of the Raini village, told the Associated Press by phone. He said they watched from the top of one of the rivers as the water became muddy and rose in a torrent.
“We knew something was wrong,” said Negi. “We could see the river’s fury.”
The video showed rescuers in camouflage uniforms and yellow or red helmets using ropes to reach victims. A man who was pulled out of a muddy hole threw up his arms, and rescuers laughed and rejoiced with him. Rescuers comforted the victims lying on a row of stretchers outdoors.
Scientists have long known that the global alert is contributing to the melting and breaking of the world’s glaciers.
Anjal Prakash, director of research and adjunct professor at the Indian School of Business who contributed to UN-sponsored research on global warming, said that although data on the cause of the disaster was not yet available, “this looks a lot like climate change. event as glaciers are melting due to global warming. “
Uttarakhand police chief Ashok Kumar said the authorities immediately alerted residents of the area and evacuated them to safer places. Downstream, popular tourist spots on the banks of the Ganges were closed and all navigation activities were interrupted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that “the nation prays for the safety of all” in Uttarakhand.
In 2013, thousands of people were killed in Uttarakhand after heavy rains caused landslides and floods, taking thousands of houses and roads and cutting communication links in many places.