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Tag: Uttarakhand rescue operations

  • Uttarakhand catastrophe: Two extra our bodies recovered at Tapovan tunnel; toll rises to 40

    Two extra our bodies have been recovered from the slush of the Tapovan tunnel, the place rescue operations have been underway since February 7. The toll has now reached 40, whereas over 30 individuals are feared trapped within the tunnel. Around 160 individuals are nonetheless lacking after Sunday’s catastrophe.
    “Recovered 2 bodies from the slush of the main tunnel at Tapovan where rescue operation was going on since 7th February Uttarakhand police, SDRF and NDRF jawans are taking out the bodies,” DGP Kumar tweeted.
    On Saturday, Garhwal Commissioner Ravinath Raman held a gathering with officers of the NTPC, the Army, ITBP and NDRF to debate challenges within the rescue operation and the progress on the continued work. An NTPC official stated that drilling as much as the depth of 12 metre was accomplished however there was not sufficient house to decrease a digicam by means of that. Hence, one other heavy machine has been pressed into service at this time to extend the diameter of drilled space as much as 30 cm.

    District Magistrate Swati S Bhadauriya stated that drilling for rescue operation contained in the tunnel was persevering with and NDRF personnel on Saturday began on the lookout for individuals who went lacking close to the barrage of Tapovan energy challenge web site.

    A crew of State Disaster Response Force inspected the short-term lake fashioned at a top of three,600 m – about 6 km upstream of Raini village. With villagers downstream fearing one other flash flood on account of formation of the lake, the SDRF crew has developed a handbook early warning system by deploying groups of personnel in Pang, Tapovan and Raini villages. These groups will alert villages by satellite tv for pc telephones and public tackle system if any emergency state of affairs arises, officers stated.

  • Uttarakhand rescue: As hope fades for kin, NTPC officers face protest

    Relatives of 34 labourers, who’re but to be rescued from a tunnel on the NTPC hydro energy plant in Chamoli’s Tapovan space following a flash flood on Sunday, protested on the challenge website on Friday, alleging that the rescue operation lacked the required tempo and gear.
    Top NTPC officers, who visited the spot to take inventory of rescue efforts, had been gheraoed and bombarded with questions in regards to the operations by the irked protesters.
    Meanwhile, two extra our bodies had been present in Maithana and Raini villages on Friday, taking the toll to 38. According to the Chamoli district administration, 166 persons are nonetheless lacking.
    “My mother has not eaten for the last six days. She remains unconscious… whenever she regains consciousness, she asks whether the tunnel has been opened or not. It’s the sixth day… hope of his survival has dimmed,” mentioned Rita, whose brother Abhishek Pant (24) was working as an electrician on the challenge for 2 years. “I want to know the timeframe,” she mentioned, including that the rescue operation would have been profitable if a member of the family of any “high-profile” particular person was trapped.

    “Every day, I am told the tunnel will be opened soon and he will be found. But I do not think that he will be alive,” mentioned Maheshwari Devi, who’s on the lookout for her nephew Saajan (19), who started work on the website almost a month in the past as his first job. “His mother Bhawani, a widow, is in Joshimath so I come here daily,” she mentioned, including that Saajan is the only real earner within the household.

    Uday Tamta, a driver within the Chamoli municipal board whose youthful brother Deepak—a civil engineer—can also be trapped contained in the tunnel, mentioned he drove a group of NDRF personnel day by day from Joshimath to the location within the morning and again within the evening. But he mentioned he has “lost my patience today”. “I am here to ask what they are doing for the past five days,” he mentioned.

    Protesters requested why extra machines weren’t deployed and why there was no search operation on the barrage, the place, they alleged, greater than a 100 folks had been lacking. As indignant relations stopped the car of NTPC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Gurdeep Singh, he tried to assuage fears and mentioned all potential efforts had been being made.

    Rescue personnel had on Thursday tried to succeed in the trapped labourers by drilling into an underground SFT. On Friday, Singh mentioned drilling is full until a depth of 10 metres and can be over inside a couple of hours, after which cameras can be used to analyse the state of affairs contained in the tunnel.

  • First girl IPS officer who scaled South Pole main ITBP ops in U’khand

    The rescue operation being undertaken on the Tapovan energy tunnel in Uttarakhand is being led by the primary girl ITBP officer to efficiently scale the South Pole, and another ace mountain-warfare skilled officers of the border guarding pressure who’ve seen disasters within the hills up shut.
    Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Aparna Kumar, a 2002-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is the senior-most subject officer of the pressure on the bottom.
    Kumar, 45, who’s the sector in-charge of the ITBP northern frontier based mostly in Uttarakhand’s capital- Dehradun, is nicely generally known as the primary girl IPS and ITBP officer to efficiently conquer the South Pole, the southernmost level on the globe located in Antarctica, in 2019.
    The officer, who has two younger youngsters and hails from Karnataka, joined the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in 2018 on deputation.
    She advised PTI on telephone from Joshimath that the “operation of clearing the slush in the Tapovan tunnel is continuing”.
    “It is a tough task but we are on it,” Kumar stated.
    She had advised reporters in 2019 that her first brush with mountaineering occurred when she was commanding a Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) battalion in Uttar Pradesh some years in the past.
    “I did my advanced mountaineering course in July, 2014 and since then there has been no looking back,” Kumar had stated.
    She has additionally accomplished the celebrated seven summits’ problem by scaling all of the seven high peaks of the seven continents and was awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2019.
    “Kumar has been camping in the Tapovan-Joshimath area since the tragedy struck on Sunday. She also leads the ITBP in various multi-agency meetings being held close to ground zero,” a senior ITBP officer stated.
    The DIG is assisted by the Commanding Officer of the first ITBP battalion based mostly in Joshimath (Chamoli district), Benudhar Nayak.
    Nayak, the officer stated, has a wealthy profile as he has served for lengthy within the mountains.
    He was posted in Uttarakhand when the huge flash floods occurred in 2013.
    “That stint is coming in handy to deal with the current tragedy,” the officer stated.
    Nayak was instrumental in shortly organising a crew of over 400 personnel from his battalion and close by models to launch the rescue operation after a potential glacier burst led to a flash flood within the Alaknanda river system and its quick swirling waters ravaged a lot of villages within the border district of Chamoli and two hydro energy vegetation.
    At least 35 our bodies have been recovered until now whereas about 170 are nonetheless lacking.
    The pressure has additionally placed on job the personnel of its specialised mountaineering and ski institute positioned in Auli close to Joshimath to undertake the operations.
    These combat-ready personnel are working underneath the command of Deputy Commandant Nitesh Sharma.
    “Sharma, a commando trained officer, was the one who first went into the small tunnel on Sunday from where 12 NTPC Tapovan workers were saved by the ITBP on Sunday,” one other officer stated.
    “All these officers have been camping in the area since the day the tragedy struck and they are as eager to find success as the distraught family members of the about 30-35 men who are trapped inside the tunnel,” the second officer stated.