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Was climate change to blame for India’s glacier flood disaster?

  • Flash flood in Uttarakhand that washed away over 200 people is linked to avalanche and melting glaciers, experts believe
  • Extreme weather in region has become more frequent, experts say, while hazardous construction practices amplify the destruction caused

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A damaged dam near the Dhauliganga hydro power project after a glacier burst in India's northern state of Uttarakhand. Photo: Xinhua
Sangram Singh was standing close to a hydroelectric power project in the higher Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand when disaster struck. “I heard a very loud sound – like a blast. I saw wires trembling around us. Within seconds, a devastating flood was upon us and it uprooted everything in its path,” he recalled.

Ten metres downhill from where Singh stood, his fellow workers were washed away by the water and debris. The power project too was destroyed. “I was saved by God’s grace. The pressure was such that I would not have survived had I been in its path.”

The furious flash flood that struck tributaries of the river Ganges in the upper reaches of the Himalayas on Sunday is thought to have washed away some 200 people. The government says 31 bodies have been recovered and 175 remain missing.

On Tuesday, hundreds of rescuers were scouring muck-filled ravines and valleys looking for survivors, with efforts focused on a tunnel at the power plant where more than three dozen men had been working. Rescuers used machine excavators and shovels to clear sludge from the tunnel overnight in an attempt to reach the workers as hopes for their survival faded.

Twelve people were rescued from one side of the tunnel on Sunday but another 34 were still trapped at the other end, said police official Banudutt Nair, in charge of the rescue operation. Nair said rescuers were not giving up hope, believing that there were air pockets inside the tunnel, where the workers could still be alive.

Rescuers clear debris as they try to rescue more than three dozen power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off on Sunday. Photo: AP
Rescuers clear debris as they try to rescue more than three dozen power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off on Sunday. Photo: AP

CLIMATE CHANGE TO BLAME?

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