Chamoli glacial burst: 166 people still missing while 38 lose lives in the catastrophe

Since the Chamoli Glacier burst incident took place near the Raini village of Joshimath, Uttarakhand, 166 people have been missing and a total of 38 people have died in the mishappening till date.

The Salvage operations are being carried out continuously and are about to dig another hole into the Tapovan tunnel in order to place a camera to get updates on people still stuck inside. Around 25-35 people are stuck inside after the act of God.

After the mishappening, Uttarakhand's Director General of police said that the team State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) visited the area and the water was flowing without any obstacles continuously from the lake. He further said that the area was completely out of the danger zone and there is no need to worry.

“Yesterday the SDRF team visited the lake that has been formerly near Raini village at a height of 4,200 meters. Water is being continuously discharging from the lake, it’s not in danger zone. The team also found a place to construct a helipad near Raini,” Kumar said while speaking to a news agency ANI.

Relief camps have also been set up by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and there is continuous search by the search operations team in order to find the missing.

“Progress is made on all fronts. Connectivity has resumed. BRO also working on the Bailey bridge. There are SDRF and ITBP relief camps. The dictrict administration also taking care of people’s needs. The search operation for missing person is on,” Kumar said.

Earlier it was said that the lake near Raini was being audited through satellites and was doubtless that there was nothing to worry about.

The General manager of NTPC Tapovan R.P Ahirwal said that a long hole which is 12 metre long with a diameter of about 75 mm has been successfully drilled but the camera couldn’t be inserted into the hole due to the watery substances inside.“Digging of a larger diameter hole has been planned now. Meanwhile mucking from the ‘intake adit tunnel’ is in progress. The diameter of the hole shall be 250-300 mm,” he told PTI.