Following Sunday’s dam crash as a result of a Himalayan India’s glacier that fell into a river not less than 171 persons are missing with local news reporting that 26 are dead as a result of the disaster.
The disaster led to a flash flood that cut off 13 villages with 2,500 people in Uttarakhand.
According to Uttarakhand’s police chief, Ashok Kumar, 35 workers from two hydroelectric projects in the Chamoli district are missing.
He said that the cut off villages has been reached by rescuers and the government is working on getting relief materials to them.
On Sunday, rescuers pulled out 12 people alive from a small tunnel in the area.
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said at a press conference that “Uttarakhand has witnessed a terrible disaster” and the state was expecting “significant loss to human lives and infrastructure.”
It was after 10 a.m. local time when a piece of the Nanda Devi glacier broke apart, sending torrents of water down the Dhauli Ganga river valley located more than 500 km (310 miles) north of New Delhi, according to authorities.
Most of the destruction was centered on two hydropower projects. The Rishiganga Power project – a small dam of 13.2 megawatts – was completely washed away in the deluge, India’s Ministry of Power said in a statement Monday.
The state’s chief minister said 35 people were working at the plant when the waters hit, and “roughly 29 to 30 people are missing.” Rising waters prompted authorities to issue urgent evacuation notices to people living further down the Alaknanda River.
