Lucknow: Rescuers efforts by multiple agencies continued today to penetrate deeper through tonnes of silt to reach out to workers trapped inside the Tapovan tunnel as the toll in the Uttarakhand flash floods has mounted to 32 with over 170 missing.
Personnel from agencies like the ITBP, NDRF and Army were involved in the rescue operations.
The centre of operations, post the Sunday disaster in the border district of Chamoli, remains the large tunnel where an estimated 30-35 workers are believed to have been trapped after the Alaknanda river hurtled down in spate as a result of a possible glacier burst or avalanche in the Himalayas.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police force spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said, ‘Heavy machines have removed more slush from the tunnel the whole night. A joint team of ITBP, NDRF, SDRF and sister agencies entered into the tunnel this morning.
The tunnel is approachable till about 120 meters but more slush and water coming from inside the tunnel is making the way ahead difficult.’