Chamoli: The death toll in the Uttarakhand glacier burst has risen to 35 while 204 people are still missing, the state government said on Thursday.

The rescue work at Tapovan tunnel resumed as drilling operation started at 2:00 AM to peep into the tunnel 12 to 13 meters below, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said. However, operations have now been temporarily suspended after a drilling machine broke down.

Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said: "We were undertaking rescue operation in the big tunnel to remove debris till yesterday. We have also started drilling in a smaller diameter tunnel to see what is inside. But it has been suspended temporarily as the machine broke down." 

Around 4-5 cars, through which the engineer had gone inside before the tragedy, are inside the tunnel. Two Tata Sumo, one Scorpio and one JCB machine was inside the tunnel at the time of flash floods.

So far, 35 bodies have been recovered from different areas hit by the glacier burst in Chamoli district on Sunday. The missing persons include 25-35 persons stuck inside the Tapovan tunnel.

DGP Kumar said DNA samples of the recovered bodies are being preserved. Of 35 dead bodies recovered, 10 have been identified so far. 

Drilling operations start at 2 am on Thursday

Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya visited the tunnel rescue site in Chamoli. She met ITBP officials to take stock of the ongoing rescue operation.

Earlier today, ITBP said: "Drilling operations started by rescue teams at 0200 AM to peep into the slush flushing tunnel 12 to 13 meters below. This is being done from the tunnel where rescue teams are presently taking out slush.

The teams through boring operation will try to see whether the slush flushing tunnel below is clear of slush or otherwise to see chances of trapped persons being rescued from there." 

 


"There is a possibility that some more people could be stuck inside the tunnel, NTPC team using vertical drilling to find their whereabouts," ITBP DIG Aparna Kumar said.

ITBP troops help construct temporary bridge across 12-13 disconnected villages in Chamoli

Around 12 villages have been disconnected from the rest of the country due to flash floods caused by the glacier burst. Raini is among 12 villages and ration is being delivered to residents through helicopters. The bridge connecting these villages was washed away in flood.

ITBP troops are helping in constructing a temporary bridge across disconnected villages in Chamoli. This will be used to transport ration from one side of the bridge to another side.