Toll climbs to 28 in Uttarakhand disaster, CM undertakes aerial survey of affected areas

Two more bodies of the around 170 missing in the Uttarakhand disaster were recovered from the debris in Raini village on Tuesday, while rescuers worked through tonnes of muck and slush to rescue around 30 workers trapped in a tunnel at a power project site in Tapovan.

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who reached Tapovan on Monday evening to review rescue efforts, undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas on Tuesday and also met 12 workers who were rescued from the tunnel on Sunday evening.

Talking to reporters, Rawat said the priority is to get to those trapped inside the tunnel and save as many lives as possible.          Additional heavy machines could be pressed into service to expedite the process of clearing tonnes of debris inside the tunnel blocking the path of rescue personnel.

The NDRF said its personnel recovered 2 bodies from the debris in Raini village on Tuesday morning.  With the recovery of the two bodies, the toll in the disaster climbed to 28 while around 170 are still missing.

A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier possibly burst through its banks in Chamoli district on Sunday.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.