125 missing after glacier triggers Indian avalanche
Rescuers strive to save trapped people on Sunday at Reni village in the Chamoli district of India’s Uttarakhand state after a glacier collapsed and swept away a hydroelectric dam.
About 125 people were missing in northern India after a Himalayan glacier collapsed and swept away a small hydroelectric dam on Sunday, with floods forcing the evacuation of villages downstream.
A wall of dust, rock and water hit as an avalanche roared down the Rishiganga valley deep in the mountains of Uttarakhand, a witness said.
“It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone,” Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of the river in Raini village said.
“I felt that even we would be swept away.”
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said 125 people were missing but the number could rise. So far, the bodies of seven people had been recovered.
The disaster took place around 500 kilometers north of New Delhi.
Uttarakhand is prone to flash floods and landslides and the disaster prompted calls by environment groups for a review of power projects in the ecologically sensitive mountains.
Earlier, state chief secretary Om Prakash had said 100 to 150 people were feared dead.
A large number of the missing were workers at the Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project which was destroyed by the bursting of the glacier.
Footage shared by locals showed the water washing away parts of the Rishiganga dam and everything else in its path.
“India stands with Uttarakhand and the nation prays for everyone’s safety there,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.
State utility NTPC said the avalanche had damaged a part of its Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower plant that was under construction further down the river. It gave no details but said the situation is being monitored.
Indian military helicopters were flying over the area and soldiers deployed for help with relief and rescue. The neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous, put its riverside areas on high alert.
It was not immediately clear what had set off the avalanche at a time when it is not the flood season.
In June 2013, record monsoon rains in Uttarakhand caused devastating floods that killed almost 6,000 people.
That disaster was dubbed the “Himalayan tsunami” because of the torrents of water unleashed in the mountainous area, which sent mud and rocks crashing down, burying homes, sweeping away buildings, roads and bridges.
Uma Bharti, India’s former water resources minister and a senior leader of Modi’s party, criticized the construction of a power project in the area.
Environmental activists called for a halt to big hydroelectric projects in this border state.
“This disaster again calls for a serious scrutiny of the hydropower dams building spree in this eco-sensitive region,” said Ranjan Panda, a volunteer for the Combat Climate Change Network that works on water, environment and climate change issues.
