Uttarakhand glacier burst: 35 dead, over 200 missing; rescue ops temporarily halted

#WATCH Uttarakhand: JCB machines, equipment and rescue teams exit the tunnel in Joshimath, Chamoli district where rescue operation is underway, as the operation has been temporarily halted due to a rise in the level of water in Rishiganga river. pic.twitter.com/u8JhPqCyFB

— ANI (@ANI) February 11, 2021

"We had reached distance of 6 metre and then realised that water is coming there. Had we continued, there would have been issues as rocks are unstable, excavator would have fallen. So we have suspended drilling operation for time being," said Ujjwal Bhattacharya, Project Director at NTPC.

Kumar said the rescue operation in the tunnel has been suspended temporarily as the machine broke down. "We were undertaking rescue operation in the big tunnel to remove debris till yesterday. We have also started drilling in a smaller diameter tunnel to see what is inside. But it has been suspended temporarily as the machine broke down," Kumar said.

In the wake of the calamity, many villages have lost road connectivity and it includes Raini Palli, Pang, Lata, Suraithota, Suki, Bhalgaon, Tolma, Fagrasu, Long Segdi, Gahar, Bhangyul, Juwagwad and Jugju. Nearly 100 ration kits have been supplied to the affected villages by helicopters to ensure they face no dearth of essentials, officials said.

A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier possibly burst through its banks in Chamoli district on February 7. It appeared to have triggered an avalanche and a deluge that ripped through the Alaknanda river system in the upper reaches of the ecologically fragile Himalayas. Experts, however, are still trying to determine the exact cause of the disaster in Joshimath.