Himalayas: At least 100 missing after avalanches in India due to glacial detachment | International

About 125 people were missing when a large avalanche hit mud and rocks in a mountainous area in northern India on Sunday, “it came too soon and no one had time to report it,” Sanjay Singh Rana, one of the city’s witnesses, told Reuters by phone. “I felt like we were being beaten too.”

In the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand in the Himalayas, an early morning avalanche broke and triggered avalanches and massive floods. Follows the channels of many riversThousands of people were forced to evacuate immediately.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said on Twitter that about 350 members of the Disaster Rescue Force and various police forces were involved in the rescue operation and that 600 people were in reserve. Most of the rescue work is focused on finding workers at two hydropower plants under construction affected by the avalanche. “Rescue teams are doing everything to save the lives of missing workers at NTPC headquarters (140) and Rishikesh (17). My prayers go out to every missing worker,” he said.

Spread by videos and social networks recorded on cell phones at the time of the avalanche, it shows a sudden influx of soil and water through a river bed that forcefully strikes the valley slopes and destroys such structures. At least one of the affected hydropower plants. “Now there are no more floods or floods anywhere,” the Uttarakhand chief minister stressed in the early hours of the morning.

On social media, the regional police have asked residents of the affected areas to remain calm and move to safer places when rescue services arrive. I continue to follow the unfortunate situation in Uttarakhand. India supports Uttarakhand and prays for the safety of all there, ”Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.

This mountain range in the Himalayas June 2013 also saw floods, landslides and the collapse of buildings It rained a month earlier after the monsoon and received 68% more rain than usual. The tragedy caused nearly 7,000 deaths or disappearances, many of which Hindu pilgrims had come to Uttarakhand to visit the most important places for this faith in the region where the river Ganges, sacred to this religion, rises.