India
pti-Madhuri Adnal
Tapovan (U’khand), Feb 16: Bright lights illuminate the surreal scene deep inside the tunnel: slush and mud, tread marks of vehicles that have been going in and out for the past week, and a single excavator still at work.
Three more bodies of the estimated 30 people initially feared trapped inside the Tapovan hydel project tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district were pulled out Tuesday. But the pace of work during the day has been slow, officials said.
Water is seeping out from the yet to be cleared portion of the tunnel, and is being continuously pumped out. But that also means more slush. Fewer rescue workers were at the job during Tuesday evening than the day before.
In the evening, a PTI photographer went down the sloping tunnel, from where tonnes of sludge and debris and 11 bodies have excavated since the rescue effort began after a flash flood on February 7.