Dehradun: Seven people died and at least 150 people were missing after a glacier burst in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand and triggered an avalanche and floods in the Alaknanda river on Sunday.
NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project and the Rishi Ganga Hydel Project were extensively damaged and hundreds of labourers were stuck in tunnels as floods rushed in.
One motorable road and four suspension bridges connecting eight villages with the district headquarters have been washed away by the avalanche.
The affected villages include Gahar, Bhangyun, Raini Palli, Pang Lata, Suraithota, Tolma and Fagrasu.
Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the toll may climb and announced a compensation of ₹4 lakh to the next of kin of those killed.
Seven bodies were recovered from a tunnel in Tapovan and a search is on, Rawat said.
Personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force have penetrated up to 150 metres into the 250-metre-long tunnel but to no avail.
Efforts are on to rescue those feared trapped in tunnels that are clogged with at least 30 feet of debris.
At least 150 people, including two policemen, are missing. The numbers could be higher as officials of the damaged projects were still assessing the damage.
Seventeen gram sabhas have been affected by the avalanche, out of which 11 are inhabited while the residents of the rest had moved to lower areas during winter, Rawat said.