It is feared that up to 150 people have lost their lives after part of a Himalayan glacier collapsed into a dam early this morning in India, causing floods that led to the evacuation of villages along a river.
"The death toll has not yet been confirmed, but there are fears that between 100 and 150 people have been killed," said the head of state of Uttarakhand, where the incident took place. An eyewitness said he saw a wall of dust, rocks and water descending like an avalanche into the river valley. ”
"It came very quickly, there was no time to be notified," Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives in the highlands of Raini village, told Reuters by telephone. "I thought it would seduce even us." Locals fear that people working at a nearby hydroelectric plant, as well as villagers looking for firewood or grazing their flocks near the river, may have been swept away by the rushing waters, Rana said.
"We have no idea how many people are missing," he added. India has put its northern regions on alert. Images from the area show the rushing waters sweeping away parts of the dam as well as everything else in their path. "The flow of the Alakanda River after Nantraj has normalized," Uttarakhand Prime Minister Trivandra Singh Rawat said on Twitter. "The water level of the river is now 1 meter above normal, but the flow is decreasing," he added.
WATCH: Dramatic visuals of glacial burst #Uttarakhand's Chamoli district; causes flash flood in Dhauli Ganga river.
Hundreds of @ITBP_official personnel rushed to carry out rescue operations? casualties feared. CM TS Rawat assures Govt is taking necessary steps. pic.twitter.com/H11mhGUOun
- Asianet Newsable (@AsianetNewsEN) February 7, 2021