Eight bodies recovered from Tapovan tunnel, Uttarakhand flood death toll rises to 46

The bodies have been kept at a temporary mortuary built in Tapovan, officials said. 158 people from the disaster remain missing.

Rescue work underway at the Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand in February 2021 | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Dehradun/Tapovan: Eight bodies were recovered on Sunday from the flash flood-ravaged hydel project sites in Tapovan and Raini of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, taking the toll in the calamity to 46, even as search and rescue operations were intensified.

Five bodies were recovered from the intake adit tunnel of the NTPC’s 520 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad project. These are the first bodies to be recovered from the site where muck-clearing and drilling operations have been underway on a war-footing since last Sunday. Three others were recovered from Raini, where a 13.2 MW hydel project along the Rishiganga was destroyed in the calamity.

The recoveries take the toll in the disaster to 46, while 158 people remain missing, officials said.

The bodies have been kept at a temporary mortuary built in Tapovan, they added.

Two of the bodies have been identified. One hails from Narendra Nagar in Tehri district and another from Kalsi in Dehradun district, Chamoli District Magistrate Swati S Bhadauria said.

She said a helicopter has been kept ready at the site to provide medical help to survivors, if any.

The NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project had suffered extensive damage in the flashflood, which also demolished the Rishiganga hydel project.

Rescue teams continued widening a hole into the Silt Flushing Tunnel at the project site in Tapovan where around 30 people are believed to be trapped.