Chamoli, Uttarakhand : Seven people died on Thursday when water and debris entered an under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. While 11 others were injured. Officials said that 22 people were safely evacuated while seven were declared dead. 11 injured laborers are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

At least 6 people are still missing.According to officials, the accident took place at the project site of Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) Limited in Pipalkoti area. This construction work is being done by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC). Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan told news agency PTI that several workers were trapped due to water and debris entering the tunnel of the Pipalkoti hydroelectric project.

Chest-deep water

NDRF Inspector Amritlal Meena, giving information about the rescue operation, said that as soon as we received the information, our team reached the spot and started the operation. The tunnel was very waterlogged, the water level was above the chest. I and 5 members of my team went inside the tunnel while the rest of our unit was outside preparing the equipment and taking care of other work. We moved forward through the water and some of the remaining members of the team had special equipment for underwater operations. Four bodies were submerged in water and were not visible from above. So we went inside and took out those four bodies from the spot.

Rescue operation started as soon as the information was received

The incident took place on Thursday evening. Rescue operation was started immediately as soon as the information was received. According to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, 18 people were rescued by 10:30 pm. While the operation to search for the remaining people and rescue them safely was going on continuously.

The injured were shifted to Gopeshwar District Hospital for treatment. District administration, police, SDRF, NDRF, ITBP army and other relevant teams were present at the spot to rescue the trapped people. As soon as the information was received, District Magistrate Gaurav Kumar himself reached the spot and was continuously monitoring the relief and rescue operation. A war-like operation is being conducted to reach the people trapped in the tunnel and rescue them safely.

Landslide-like incident caused accident

Giving information about the incident, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that after a landslide-like incident that occurred on the laborers working inside the tunnel being built on the Birhi river near Pipalkoti, soil and debris suddenly fell on them. Due to which some people were trapped inside. So far, 18 people have been rescued. Some of the rescued people are injured and have been shifted to the hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

Report – Abhijit Tushar Bhatt