At least 14 people have been killed and more than 150 people missing after a flash flood swept through a mountain valley in the northern Indian Himalayas, hitting hydropower projects and sweeping site workers.
The flood was caused when a glacier near the Rishi Ganga River, one of the tributaries of the Ganges, broke and collapsed into the river on Sunday morning. Local television footage showed a huge wave of brown water meandering down the valley, flooding the shores, triggering avalanches and tearing down buildings.
The water entered a small hydro project, washing away a dam and damaging a larger hydro project built downstream. About 154 people working on the two projects at the time were still missing on Sunday evening, according to Mukesh Kumar, a data entry operator at the disaster management authority in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand state, where the incident took place.
“The 14 bodies of the workers were recovered from the river,” Mr Kumar said. “We will know the identity of the dead and missing workers only tomorrow.”
Police helped the rescue effort after a small hydroelectric dam was flooded in the village of Chormi in Uttarakhand state on February 7.
Photo:
Reuters
The army, police and teams from India’s National Disaster Response Force helped rescue the works late into the night, which included helping dig workers trapped in a tunnel at one of the sites. The divers were being transported on Sunday, while the Indian Air Force was on hand to help with any rescue, the government said.
“All our attention is being paid to the rescue right now,” Trivendra Singh Rawat, the prime minister, said in a news briefing.
Hundreds of people were killed in the same state after a similar flood in 2013, when the wall of a glacial lake shattered after heavy rains – crossing a valley crowded with thousands of pilgrims visiting one of the holiest temples of Hinduism.
After that disaster, more than 4,000 people were presumed missing, although the official death toll was kept at several hundred, government officials said at the time.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was talking to senior officials and receiving updates on rescue work and relief operations. He announced a government fund to support the families of those killed and injured in the disaster.
“India is with Uttarakhand and the nation is praying for the safety of all there,” he said on Twitter.
—Rajesh Roy contributed to this article.
Write to Krishna Pokharel at [email protected]
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