Uttarakhand disaster: 55 bodies recovered so far; 179 missing person reports lodged

With the recovery of three more bodies from the NTPC Tapovan hydro-electric project tunnel and one from Maithana village today, a total of 55 bodies and 22 human body parts have been recovered in the Rishiganga flash floods that occurred on February 7 in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.

The flash floods, triggered probably by a snow avalanche and consequent landslide, swept the Rishiganga hydro-electric project and then hit Tapovan-Vishnugad project of NTPC eight kilometres downstream.

While 70 persons were believed to have been buried by the deluge at Raini village where Rishiganga project is situated, 35 workers working in a tunnel at Tapovan project were also caught unaware and probably got choked to death from the slush and debris.

The Army SDRF, NDRF teams are working for the past one week to clear the slush from Tapovan tunnel and in other areas to recover the dead bodies.

Swati Bhaduriya, District Magistrate, Chamoli who is supervising the rescue and relief operations, said that out of total the 55 bodies and 22 human organs recovered so far, 29 bodies have been identified. DNA samples of all those not identified have been taken.

Missing reports of 179 persons have been lodged in Chamoli police station till date.

Following the formation of a lake at Raini village, the State Disaster Management Authority has installed an alarm system near the lake for timely information about any future rupture and flash floods from the lake.