Late Tuesday night – nearly 60 hours after a glacier burst in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli unleashed an avalanche that trapped between 25 and 35 people inside the 2.5 km-long Tapovan tunnel of Uttarakhand – rescue teams that began work Sunday finally managed to clear some of the debris and, with great caution, enter the structure.
The number of dead after the glacier breakoff rose to 32 with six more bodies recovered on Tuesday. The Uttarakhand government said that 206 persons (including 25-35 people stuck inside Tapovan tunnel) are still missing.
Rescuers fear hypothermia in people stuck inside the tunnel as they race against time to take them out. While conditions in the area remain chilly, the slush-filled tunnel, experts say, could be much colder.
Rescue agencies are now deploying advanced technologies such as a helicopter carrying a laser with electromagnetic pulse imager for an aerial survey over the tunnel, and a camera drone to be sent inside the tunnel.
Inside, all is dark and the meagre light from torches and the miner’s lamps show boulders and large chunks of concrete embedded in the mud and slush that seems to have filled most of the tunnel, which is U-shaped and measures 12 by 15 feet. The tunnel has one entry and bifurcates, making it harder to locate the missing men.
