Uttarakhand flash floods: 136 missing after disaster to be declared dead

The Uttarakhand government has initiated the process to declare 136 people missing in the 7 February Chamoli disaster, as "dead", and issued a notification to that effect on Monday.

Of the 206 people missing in the Chamoli disaster, search and rescue workers have recovered 70 bodies and 29 human organs from the debris so far after the region was hit by one of the worst tragedies in recent years, according to the state government on Tuesday.

"According to the information received from the disaster control room yesterday, one dead body was recovered from Srinagar Chauras and one from Kirti Nagar. Of the 206 missings, 70 bodies and 29 human organs have been recovered so far," the Uttarakhand government said.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel along with National Disaster Response Force, the Army, Navy and Air Force, and local police have been conducting the search and rescue operations in the Chamoli district.

About two weeks ago, a glacier burst earlier in the Tapovan-Reni area of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, which led to massive flooding in the Dhauliganga and Alaknanda rivers and damaged houses and the nearby Rishiganga power project.

A hydroelectric station and five bridges were washed away, besides severe damage to another power project.

Back in 2013, a massive flash flood and landslide had hit Uttarakhand's Kedarnath after a multi-day cloudburst. More than 5,700 people were killed in one of India's worst natural disasters since the 2004 tsunami.

With agency inputs