LUCKNOW, India (AP) – Indian authorities launched a search on Sunday after part of a mountain glacier broke, sending a massive flood of water and debris into two dams and damaging a number of homes. At least three people died and 140 were missing.
The flood was caused when part of the Nanda Devi Glacier broke on Sunday morning in the Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand. A video shared by officials and taken from the side of a steep slope shows a wall of water flowing into one of the dams, breaking it to pieces with little resistance before continuing to roar downstream.
The Rishiganga hydroelectric power station was destroyed, while the Dhauliganga hydroelectric power station was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for the Indo-Tibetan border police paramilitary force.
Pandey said three bodies were found near a tunnel near the Dhauliganga project, where at least 16 workers were detained. Another 140 workers at the two factories were missing, he said.
Ravi Bejaria, a government spokesman, said some houses had also been damaged by the floods.
Officials said that when the glacier broke, it had trapped water behind it, as well as mud and other debris pouring down from the mountain and into other bodies of water. An advisory was issued urging people living on the banks of the Alaknanda River to immediately move to safer places.
Several teams of rescue workers were rushed to the affected area, officials said.
The Himalayan area has a chain of energy projects on the Alknanda River and its tributaries.
In 2013, thousands of people were killed in Uttarakhand after heavy rains caused landslides and floods, washed away thousands of homes and roads, and lost communications in many parts of the state.
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This story has been corrected to show that authorities started their search on Sunday, not Saturday.