Chamoli (Gurpreet Singh): A major rescue operation was launched in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand on Thursday after a sudden surge of water and debris entered an under-construction tunnel at the Pipalkoti hydroelectric project. The incident occurred around 7:00 PM at the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) Limited project site, where construction work is being executed by Hindustan Construction Company (HCC). Emergency response teams quickly mobilized to the location following reports that roughly 18 to 19 workers were trapped inside the facility.
By Thursday evening, multi-agency relief operations had successfully evacuated at least 16 workers, while search efforts continued to locate and safely extract the remaining trapped personnel. Officials confirmed that those brought out of the tunnel are in stable condition, with some receiving treatment for minor injuries sustained during the inundation. State authorities, including local police, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), initiated the initial response, with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and Army personnel deployed to reinforce the effort.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that the government’s topmost priority remains the safe evacuation of every worker remaining inside the tunnel. District Magistrate Gaurav Kumar is currently at the scene overseeing ground operations, while state emergency operation centres are actively monitoring the situation to allocate additional resources as necessary
