Uttarakhand: Race against time to find 3 missing in Chamoli tunnel tragedy

Specialist rescue teams raced against time on Friday, 14 August to reach three workers trapped inside an under-construction tunnel at a hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, a day after debris and water flooded the tunnel, killing seven people and injuring 13 others.

Twenty-two workers were inside the three-kilometre tunnel at the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation's Vishnugad-Pipalkoti hydroelectric project in Mayapur, near Pipalkoti, when landslides and subsidence caused debris and water to rush in around 7.00 pm on Thursday, according to district disaster management officer N.K. Joshi.

A State Emergency Operations Centre report said 19 workers were pulled out during rescue operations that continued through the night. Seven were dead and 12 injured.

The remaining three workers — Lucas Topno of Jharkhand and Chetan Poyam and Devnath of Chhattisgarh — are believed to be trapped about 1.8 km inside the tunnel. Rescue teams are using heavy machinery to clear debris and pumps to drain the water, but continuous rain is making the operation difficult.

Garhwal Range inspector-general of police Rajiv Swaroop said the flooded section where debris had accumulated was being cleared with machines and that rescuers were inspecting the area systematically. "The area where the debris has accumulated is flooded, and it is being rapidly removed with the help of machines. The continuous rain is posing some challenges to the operation... We have marked a specific area for the operation, where every square metre is being carefully inspected," he told PTI Videos.

The National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, police and technical teams are involved in the operation. Officials said the rescue was being conducted with extreme caution because of the water and debris inside the tunnel.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Pipalkoti on Friday and reviewed the operation. He entered the tunnel and sought updates from the teams involved before visiting the injured workers at Chamoli district hospital.

Dhami directed officials to deploy all available resources and technical expertise and ensure close coordination among the NDRF, SDRF, ITBP and police to evacuate the three missing workers safely. "Arrangements have also been made at AIIMS, Rishikesh, in case anyone should be shifted there. All agencies such as NDRF, SDRF, ITBP, Uttarakhand Disaster Management Department are involved in rescue work," he told reporters.

The seven deceased were identified as Pradeep Panwar of Tehri Garhwal; Mukesh Singh of Chamoli; Durga Sharma, Vijay Hansda and Jitendra Kumar of Uttar Pradesh; and Lokeshwar and Bhuneshwar of Chhattisgarh.

The injured workers being treated at the district hospital in Gopeshwar include Sunil Dewan and Pen Singh of Chhattisgarh; Harbil Gudiya, Kamda, Nirshtar Bhingra, Vinod Rawna, Dina Begra and Khela Ram Bisra of Jharkhand; Subeg Singh of Punjab; and Tilakraj of Himachal Pradesh.

Rohit Pandey of Bihar was shifted to Base Hospital in Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal, for further treatment, while Govindo Mandal of West Bengal was discharged after treatment. Doctors and health department teams are monitoring the injured.

Chamoli district magistrate Gaurav Kumar and superintendent of police Surjeet Singh Panwar briefed the chief minister on the incident. Kumar, along with Garhwal MP Anil Baluni, is monitoring the rescue operation at the site and has directed officials to ensure the availability of all necessary resources and technical assistance.

The accident has revived memories of the November 2023 tunnel collapse in Uttarkashi, where 41 workers were trapped after a section of the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel collapsed on 12 November.

The workers were finally evacuated on 28 November after a nearly 17-day rescue operation involving central and state agencies and international experts. The operation had faced repeated setbacks from unstable rock, machinery failures and difficult terrain.

The Chamoli rescue comes with a similar challenge: reaching workers trapped deep inside an unfinished mountain tunnel while continuing rainfall threatens to complicate an already precarious operation.

With PTI inputs