02/07/2021 2:21 PM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 02/07/2021 2:21 PM
About 200 people were missing
in northern India on Sunday after a huge fragment of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river, causing a strong torrent that submerged two power plants and washed away roads and bridges.
Nine bodies were found and an emergency operation has been deployed to try to
rescue some 17 people
who are trapped in a tunnel, the Uttarakhand state police chief said.
The huge current crossed the valley of the Dhauliganga River,
destroying everything in its path,
according to videos filmed by inhabitants of the region.
"A cloud of dust was kicking up as the water advanced. The ground shook like an earthquake," Om Agarwal, a local, told television.
Most of the missing
are workers from two power plants that were
washed away by the current that caused a huge chunk of glacier that fell down the side of a mountain, said police chief Ashok Kumar.
Rescuers in the Himalayas.
Reuters photo
"There were about 50 workers at the Rishi Ganga plant and we don't have any information about them. Another 150 workers were in Tapovan," he added.
"Almost 20 are trapped in a tunnel
. We are trying to reach them," he added.
With the main road completely obliterated, the tunnel filled with mud and rocks, so rescuers had to descend a hillside with ropes to access the site.
Hundreds of rescuers
, supported by helicopters and planes, have been deployed to the region.
The authorities had to empty the dams to stop the flood, whose waters reached the Ganges, for which they prohibited the population from approaching the banks of the sacred river.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said he is controlling the rescue operation.
General view of the landslide area.
Photo EFE
"India supports Uttarakhand and the entire nation prays for the safety of all who are there," he tweeted.
A total of 14 glaciers are found
on the river in the Nanda Devi National Park, the subject of scientific studies because of growing fears about climate change and deforestation.
"Avalanches are common phenomena in the river basin," MPS Bisht, director of the Uttarakhand Space Application Center, told AFP.
The devastating monsoon floods in Uttarakhand
in 2013 caused more than 6,000 deaths,
prompting revisions to development plans in the state, particularly in isolated areas such as those near the Rishi Ganga dam.
Uma Bharti, a former minister for water resources, said that when she was a member of the government, she had requested that hydroelectric projects be frozen in "sensitive" areas of the Himalayas, such as the Ganges and its tributaries.
Vimlendhu Jha, founder of the environmental NGO Swechha, said the disaster
is a "sinister appeal"
about the effects of climate change and the "random development of roads, railways and power plants in ecologically sensitive areas."
"Activists and residents have consistently opposed big projects in the river valley," he added.
Look also
Coronavirus: Nepal reopens its borders for all foreign tourists
Paralyzed and encircled by conflict, Kashmir sinks into despair
