JOSHIMATH, India (AP) – Hundreds of rescue workers searched muddy ravines and valleys in northern India on Tuesday for survivors after part of the Himalayan glacier erupted, unleashing a devastating flood that left at least 31 people dead and 165 missing.
One of the rescue efforts is focused on a tunnel at a hydroelectric plant in which more than three dozen workers have not been contacted since Sunday’s flood. Rescuers used car excavators and shovels to remove mud from the tunnel overnight in an attempt to reach workers as their hopes of survival faded.
The disaster was triggered when part of the glacier on Mount Nanda Devi broke on Sunday morning. Scientists went to the scene to investigate what caused the break-in and the flood – possibly an avalanche or a release of accumulated water. Experts say climate change could be to blame, as warming temperatures lower glaciers and make them unstable globally.
Flooding waters, mud and boulders roared on the mountain along the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers, breaking dams, sweeping bridges and forcing the evacuation of many villages, while turning the countryside into what looked like a gray moon.
The flood swept away a small hydroelectric project and damaged a larger one downstream on Dhauliganga. Leaving the Himalayas, the two rivers meet before merging with the Ganges River.
The power of the screaming wall of water was first observed by the inhabitants of several villages perched on the slopes of the valley.
Rajeev Semwal heard a sound similar to the bubbling clouds and then watched the usually blue waters of Alaknanda become muddy.
“I understand that a disaster has indeed taken place,” said Semwal, a resident of Tapovan village in Uttarakhand state, where the power plant is located.
Semwal’s brother-in-law and younger brother both worked at the plant. His younger brother was in the tunnel that was flooded and has not been since.
Most of the missing were people working on the two projects, part of many plants the government has built on several rivers and their tributaries in the mountains of Uttarakhand state.
The ecologically sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides.
More than 6,000 people are believed to have been killed in the 2013 floods, which were triggered by the heaviest monsoon rains in decades.