This photograph from the National Disaster Response Force shows NDRF personnel rescuing workers at one of the hydroelectric projects in the village of Reni in the Chamoli district.
(CNN) -
At least 177 people are missing and 20 have died in northern India after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and fell into a river.
This caused a devastating avalanche of water, dust and rocks down a mountain gorge that collided with a dam.
Rescue teams worked through the night to find survivors trapped under the rubble.
Most of the missing are workers from two hydroelectric projects in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, which were affected by the avalanche.
Images from Sunday's disaster show a wall of water and rocks moving rapidly through a narrow gorge and crushing a dam at a smaller hydroelectric project in its wake before going downstream, washing away buildings, trees and people.
Ashok Kumar, the Uttarakhand Police Chief, told CNN on Monday that 20 bodies had been recovered in the affected region.
He said 177 more people were still missing, including 35 workers believed to be trapped inside a tunnel at the largest state hydroelectric project.
Some 2,500 people in 13 villages were initially cut off by flash floods caused by the glacier's collapse, Kumar said on Monday.
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The tunnel mouth was cleared by Indian Army personnel on Monday, according to the Uttarakhand State Press Information Office.
Rescue teams had reached all 13 villages on Monday afternoon and relief work is now underway in them, Kumar said.
Meanwhile, rescue efforts are focused on clearing mud and debris from the tunnel where the 35 workers are believed to be trapped.
Rescuers managed to clear the tunnel mouth on Monday, according to a Twitter post from the Uttarakhand State Press Information Office.
The office praised the "tireless efforts of the Indian Army personnel", adding that relief operations in the area were still underway.
According to Reuters, crews had managed to drill 150 meters of the 2.5 km-long tunnel, but the large volume of debris had slowed progress.
On Sunday, rescuers lifted 12 people from another smaller tunnel at the same site, according to Kumar.
The sensitivity of the Himalayan terrain
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel participate in rescue efforts at the hydroelectric power project in the village of Reni, in the Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, on February 8, 2021.
The ecologically sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides.
Himalayan glaciers are also vulnerable to rising global temperatures due to man-made climate change.
As the ice melts, the glaciers become unstable and begin to retreat.
Large glacial lakes can form, and when parts of the glacier in front of it break away, they release the water trapped behind it, causing an explosion of flooding.
A 2019 study found that Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast as last century, losing nearly half a meter of ice every year.
Others have pointed to a high level of construction along the state's rivers, which in recent years have seen a growing number of hydroelectric dams, projects and infrastructure connecting them, such as roads and new developments.
While environmentalists have long warned that rampant development in the Himalayan state is an ecological catastrophe waiting to happen, authorities described Sunday's landslide as a bizarre event.
This was a unique incident.
The glacier broke and… the debris fell and flooded the power project here, ”said Kumar, the Uttarakhand Police Chief.
Sunday's floods brought back memories of a similar devastating incident in 2013, when the state was hit by what the area's prime minister called a "Himalayan tsunami."
Almost 6,000 people lost their lives in those floods, according to Reuters.
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Rescue operations continued on Monday near the Dhauliganga hydroelectric project after part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke, in the Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India.
Widespread avalanche damage
Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat told a news conference on Sunday that "Uttarakhand has witnessed a terrible disaster" and that the state expected "significant loss of human life and infrastructure."
It was after 10 a.m. local time that part of the Nanda Devi glacier broke, sending torrents of water down the Dhauli Ganga River valley, located more than 500 km north of New Delhi, according to authorities.
Most of the destruction centered on two hydroelectric projects.
The Rishiganga power project, a small 13.2-megawatt dam, was completely washed away by the flood, the Indian Ministry of Energy said in a statement on Monday.
The state prime minister said 35 people were working at the plant when the waters hit, and "approximately 29 to 30 people are missing."
Rising waters prompted authorities to issue urgent evacuation notices to people living further down the Alaknanda River.
A photograph from the State Disaster Response Force shows a rescue operation near the Dhauliganga hydroelectric project, in the Chamoli district, Uttarakhand.
As flash floods swept through the valley, they caused extensive damage to a second, much larger 520-megawatt hydro project under construction, about 5 kilometers from the other project.
Some 176 workers were working at the site of the Tapovan Vishnugad hydroelectric project, which has two tunnels and is state-owned by NTPC, India's largest energy company.
More than 30 workers could have been trapped in the second tunnel, he warned.
Rescuers are struggling to reach them, but the surrounding road is covered in debris.
A witness told Reuters that the avalanche of dust, rocks and water came without warning.
"It came very quickly, there was no time to alert anyone," Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives up the river in the village of Raini in Uttarakhand, told Reuters by phone.
"I felt that even we would be swept away."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a message of support after the disaster.
"I am constantly monitoring the unfortunate situation in Uttarakhand," he tweeted.
View of the overflowing Mandakini River, a tributary of the Alaknanda River, near the Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand, India.
“India supports Uttarakhand and the nation prays for the safety of everyone there.
I have been continuously talking to higher authorities and receiving updates on the NDRF [National Disaster Response Force] deployment, rescue work and relief operations.
The avalanche was a "climatic event", says the expert
While experts say it is too early to conclude exactly what led to Sunday's avalanche, they have said that human-induced climate change is certainly at stake.
Dr Ankal Prakash, Director of Research at the Bharti Institute of Public Policy at the Indian School of Business, said it "looks like a climate change event."
"The
prima facie
evidence
that we are seeing is that it is due to glacier decline and melting due to global warming," said Prakash, author of the landmark UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the Ocean and Cryosphere.
The 2019 report, Prakash said, documented how "climate change has altered the region to the point that it will increase the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters."
The area where the avalanche and flooding occurred is extremely remote and mountainous, and it can take days to reach some of the villages along the valleys, according to Prakash.
These places "need basic facilities like infrastructure, water, roads and sanitation," said Prakash, adding that "here we need development because they are some of the poorest areas."
However, the discussion should focus on what kind of development and projects are being built, and assess how harmful they could be to the environment, he said.
- CNN's Akanksha Sharma and Rishabh Pratap contributed reporting.
Himalayas
