The rescue operation in Tapovan district of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand’s was halted briefly on Thursday afternoon after a surge in water levels of Rishi Ganga, Dhauli Ganga and Alaknanda rivers were noticed. The Chamoli police said that rescue officials and people living nearby river areas were alerted.
The water level in the river had started to rise and people living in nearby areas were being alerted, said Chamoli police. “People are requested to remain alert and not panic,” the police said.
Meanwhile, the state government announced that the death toll has mounted 35 to and 204 people are still missing.
The rescue operation has been stopped for 30-45 minutes as they believe the water level will go down soon and there’s nothing to panic, informed DGP Kumar.
The rise was also seen in Tavopan area, therefore, the NDRF and SDRF teams warned the rafting teams deployed for the search operation, to stay alert and halt the operation until further instructions. Search inside Tapovan tunnel search was also stopped where people are believed to be trapped.
“Rescue operations in the tunnel have been temporarily halted as a precaution for the time being due to a low rise in water level in River Dhauli Ganga. Nothing alarming has been seen in the river flow as of now,” the Indo-Tibetan Border Police said.
“We had reached a distance of 6 metres and then realised that water was coming there. Had we continued, there would've been issues as rocks are unstable and excavators would've fallen. So we've suspended drilling operations for the time being,” Ujjwal Bhattacharya, project director at NTPC, said.
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The ITBP also added that the NTPC team is using vertical drilling to find people who might be stuck inside the Tapovan tunnel.
Meanwhile, jhula bridges are being constructed by the ITBP troops to connect the villages in Chamoli as the land connection has got washed away due to the flash flood that was witnessed last Sunday after the glacier burst.