Four days after a catastrophic flash flood hit a valley in the Indian Himalayas, hopes of finding even more survivors faded in the muddy wreckage of two dams destroyed in the disaster.
To date, 34 bodies have been recovered from the disaster and more than 170 are still missing. At least two bodies were discovered in the city of Rishikesh, which is about 150 miles downstream.
Rescue efforts continued to target a tunnel under the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydroelectric dam on the Dhauliganga River, Uttarakhand State, where about 30 men were at work when the violent wave of water engulfed the plant on Sunday morning.
The flash flood is believed to have been caused by an avalanche or landslide that struck a hanging glacier, which led to a massive and devastating flood of water flowing through the Chamoli valley, destroying two hydroelectric dams and several bridges in its path.
There was anger and protests among families of the missing that all rescue efforts were aimed at the Tapovan tunnel. Relatives of 57 men still missing from the Rishiganga hydropower project, which was first hit by the fast-flowing water current and completely obliterated, said authorities had made no attempt to excavate them.
Shoaib Malik, 24, whose father worked at the Rishiganga factory but was not at work on the day of the disaster, helped relatives, whose 57 loved ones were buried deep in a smaller tunnel and in the wreckage of the power plant. .
Many of the workers were from other states, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Kashmir, and some families had traveled hundreds of miles when they heard of the floods.
“The situation for these families is worse than I can put into words,” said Malik. “They’ve given up hope of finding someone else alive, so if they get the dead bodies, that’s enough. But even that seems impossible at the moment because the rescue team is only focused on rebuilding the road, they are not trying to help with the digging. “
After more than 100 family members protested Wednesday morning, the military gave them two excavators to dig into the tunnel, but the families had to operate them themselves due to limited rescue personnel.
“The forces here aren’t helping us, so we’re doing this rescue ourselves,” said Malik. “The company that runs this factory is sending more machines from Delhi, but we can’t wait until then. We are trying to dig this place out and find our own people so that we can at least give their last rites. “
Since the disaster, no signs of life had been heard in the 2.4 km Tapovan tunnel. Dozens of relatives of those trapped inside gathered anxiously on the spot and offered prayers.
Among them was 58-year-old Pal Chand, whose son Vineet Saini was an engineer for the hydroelectric dam. “My heart is sinking with every minute that passes, but I am hopeful that I will be reunited with my son and that he will emerge safe and sound,” he told the Times of India.
More than 600 paramilitaries, police and rescue personnel have worked since Sunday to clear mud, debris and stones from the tunnel entrance using a combination of heavy machinery and manual labor.
Drones with heat sensor cameras and tracking dogs were also brought in and nearly 100 meters of the tunnel cleared, but hopes of getting one of the workers alive waned as night fell on the fourth day of the rescue. Ashok Kumar, the state police chief executive, admitted that “not much progress had been made in the rescue operation.”
Uttarakhand’s prime minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat, said rescue workers, after failing to clear mud from the entrance, tried to enter the tunnel by alternative roads. He said, “They plan to drill the tunnel and go in using ropes because they have a hard time clearing the slush even after using heavy machinery.”
Pope Francis said on Wednesday that he “prayed for the missing workers, for their families and for all the wounded and those who suffered losses.”
The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, wrote to Uttarakhand’s prime minister to express his grief over the incident. I offer my condolences to those who have lost loved ones and pray for them. I also pray for the safety and well-being of those who are still missing, ”the letter read.