Four days after a catastrophic flood hit a valley in the Indian Himalayas, hopes of finding more survivors in the muddy wreckage of two dams that were devastated in the disaster were waning.
So far, 34 bodies have been recovered from the disaster and more than 170 are still missing. At least two bodies were discovered in the town of Rishikesh, which is about 150 miles downstream.
Rescue efforts continued to focus on a tunnel under the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydroelectric dam on the Dhauliganga River in the state of Uttarakhand, where about 30 men were working when the violent water wave engulfed the plant on Sunday morning.
The flash flood is believed to have been caused by an avalanche or landslide that hit a suspended glacier, leading to a vast and destructive torrent of water down the Chamoli River valley, destroying two hydroelectric dams and several bridges in its path.
There was anger and protests among the families of the missing that all rescue efforts were concentrated in the Tapovan tunnel. Relatives of 57 men who are still missing from the Rishiganga hydroelectric project, which was the first to be hit by the torrent of water and was completely destroyed, said no attempt was made by the authorities to try to remove them.
Shoaib Malik, 24, whose father worked at the Rishiganga plant but was not working on the day of the disaster, was there helping relatives whose 57 loved ones were buried in a smaller tunnel and in the plant’s wreckage.
Many of the workers were from other states, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Kashmir, and some of the families had traveled hundreds of kilometers when they heard about the floods.
“The situation for these families is more dire than I can put into words,” said Malik. “They’ve lost hope of finding someone alive, so if they take the corpses it will be enough. But even that seems impossible at the moment, because the rescue team is just concentrating on rebuilding the road, they are not trying to help dig it. “
After more than 100 family members protested on Wednesday morning, the army gave them two bulldozers to start digging in the tunnel, but families had to operate them on account of limited rescue personnel.
“The forces here are not helping us, so we are doing this rescue ourselves,” said Malik. “The company that runs this factory is shipping more machines from Delhi, but we cannot wait until then. We are trying to dig this place and find our own people so that we can at least give their last rituals. “
No sign of life has been heard in the 2.4-km Tapovan tunnel since the disaster. Dozens of family members of the people trapped inside anxiously gathered at the site, offering prayers.
Among them was Pal Chand, 58, whose son Vineet Saini was an engineer for the hydroelectric dam. “My heart is sinking with each passing minute, but I hope that I will be reunited with my son and he will be safe and sound,” he told the Times of India.
More than 600 paramilitaries, police and rescue workers have been working since Sunday to remove mud, debris and stones from the tunnel’s entrance, using a combination of heavy machinery and manual labor.
Drones with heat-sensing cameras and sniffer dogs were also brought in and nearly 100 meters of the tunnel was cleared, but hopes of extracting any of the living workers were waning when night fell on the fourth day of rescue. Ashok Kumar, the director general of the state police, admitted that “there has not been much progress in the rescue operation”.
Uttarakhand’s chief minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat, said that after failing to clear the mud from the entrance, rescue workers were trying to access the tunnel via alternative avenues. He said: “They are planning to drill the tunnel and enter with the help of ropes because they are having trouble cleaning the mud, even after using heavy machinery.”
Pope Francis said on Wednesday that he was “praying for the missing workers, their families and all the injured and those who suffered losses”.
Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, wrote to the chief minister of Uttarakhand to express his sadness about the incident. “I offer my condolences to those who have lost loved ones and pray for them. I also pray for the safety and well-being of those who are still missing, ”said the letter.