68 bodies recovered in Uttarkhand glacier burst

A total of 68 bodies have been recovered so far following the glacier burst in Uttarkhand, said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Sunday.

Apart from 68 bodies, 28 body parts have also been recovered from Tapovan in Chamoli district, said Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar.

"Total dead bodies retrieved from Tapovan stands at 32. Today, 13 dead bodies were recovered from Reni village and 18 from the Tapovan area out of which 13 were recovered from the tunnel and one from the banks of the Dhauliganga river. With this, the total number of bodies recovered so far is now 68," NDRF Deputy Commandant Aditya Pratap Singh told ANI.

Rescue and search operations are still on in Reni village. The operations are jointly taken care of by JCB, NDRF and SDRF. The operation of de-watering the tunnel is also underway following which excavation work will start as soon as the water is drained out, Singh said.

Meanwhile, Nilesh Anand Bharan, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Crime and Law and Order and Spokesperson, Uttarakhand Police said that the local police, SDRF, Fire Service and Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) personnel are involved in the rescue, search and relief operations, as well as DNA Sampling, following the natural calamity in Chamoli.

"Out of the total 204 people missing in the natural disaster, 68 bodies and 28 body parts have been recovered from different places," the official said.

All the bodies and body parts recovered so far were kept for identification at Community Health Center Joshimath, District Hospital Gopeshwar and Community Health Center Karnaprayag following all the norms of DNA sampling and protection.

A control room has been established at Uttarakhand Police Headquarters. Jewellery, tattoos and other identification marks from the dead bodies are also being preserved through photography and videography, added Bharan.

Divers of the Navy undertook the task of recording the depth of the glacial lake formed in the upper reaches of Chamoli district in the aftermath of glacier burst on February 7, the Indian Navy said on Sunday.

The SDRF has dropped the Quick Deployable Antenna (QDA) system for communication near the lake formed in the upper reaches of Chamoli district on Sunday.The system was sent by air to the waterlogged area in the Himalayan region above Reni village.

A team of 10 scientists and 7 personnel of SDRF are working in the lake area, whose basic objective is to assess the danger posed by the lake and after the assessment, technical advice should be given to resolve it, the SDRF said.

The NDRF personnel rappelled way down the mountain to install a gauge in the Dhauliganga river in Chamoli.

A glacier burst in the Tapovan-Reni area of Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on February 7 led to massive flooding in the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers which damaged houses and the nearby Rishiganga power project.