Seven workers have been confirmed dead following a flooding incident in an under-construction hydropower tunnel in Chamoli. The disaster occurred late on Friday, more than 24 hours after a suspected aquifer burst unleashed a torrent of water and debris into the passage. Three additional workers remain trapped inside the tunnel. This incident adds to the series of accidents that have plagued Himalayan hydroelectric projects during the ongoing monsoon season.
Rescue teams from the NDRF, SDRF, Army, ITBP, CISF, fire service and state police, backed by heavy pumps and specialist equipment, spent Friday wading through water that was chest-deep in places along a roughly 1.2-km flooded stretch of the tail-race tunnel (TRT) at Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) India’s 444 MW Vishnugad-Pipalkoti project, searching for the three missing men.
Officials said continuous water inflow, low visibility and the risk of further collapse were slowing progress.
The three still missing are Lucas Topno from Jharkhand and Chetan Poyam and Devnath, both from Chhattisgarh. Officials of the Union power ministry’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) have reached the site and a joint technical review with THDC engineers has begun. Of the 22 workers on shift when the incident occurred around 7pm on Thursday, 19 have been brought out — seven of them declared dead at the district hospital in Gopeshwar and 12 admitted with injuries, including one referred to the Base Hospital at Srinagar. Thursday’s incident is the ninth accident or weather-linked disaster to hit a hydropower or dam project in the Himalayan belt since June 24, spanning the Teesta, Brahmaputra, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Yamuna basins. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has separately ordered a magisterial inquiry and announced ex-gratia of ₹ 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed.
