The death toll in the Uttarakhand glacier burst tragedy rose to 50 on Sunday, 14 February, as 12 more bodies were recovered, the State Disaster Response Force said, according to ANI.
Earlier on Sunday, Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar had said that four bodies have been retrieved from the Tapovan tunnel.
He added that two bodies have also been found in Raini village on Sunday morning, taking the day’s body count to six.
"Overnight excavation has resulted in debris mostly. Teams have reached upto 130 metres inside and are trying to fasten the process to reach next tunnel soon," he added.
According to NDTV, these are the first bodies to be recovered from the main tunnel at the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project where more than thirty people are feared to be trapped for over a week now.
The bodies were recovered hours after rescue officials successfully drilled a 12-metre-long hole of 75 mm diameter in the intake adit tunnel.
"There is no water or slush pressure observed in the silt-flushing tunnel. However, the camera could not be inserted due to the presence of slush. Drilling of a larger diameter hole has been planned now. Meanwhile mucking from the intake adit tunnel is in progress. The diameter of bore hole shall be 250-300 mm," National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Tapovan, General Manager, RP Ahirwal told the channel.
Cases of 29 missing people have been registered at Joshimath Police Station till now and DNA samples of 55 family members have been taken for assistance in identification, said the Chamoli Police.
Joint operations are being conducted in the area by teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
(With inputs from NDTV)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)