Uttarakhand: 11 workers trapped in tunnel after landslide

Lucknow: 11 workers at the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation's (NHPC) Dhauliganga Power Project were trapped inside a tunnel after a landslide in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district.

The workers were inside the tunnel when its normal and emergency openings were blocked following a landslide, reports said.

Initially, 19 workers were trapped, but later eight of them were rescued by the administration.

Sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Dharchula, Jitendra Verma, said that heavy machines had been pressed into service to remove the debris and expressed hope that the remaining workers would be brought out later in the evening on Sunday.

Reports said that the landslide was caused by heavy rains and that the debris was still falling from the hills, hampering rescue operations.

Verma said that all the workers were safe and that power generation from the plant was normal.

"There was enough food inside the tunnel for the workers, and there is no cause for worry… the work of removing the debris was going on in full swing," he added.

Uttarakhand had been hit by a spate of landslides and cloudbursts in the past few days following heavy rains. A series of cloudbursts had hit several districts in the Garhwal and Kumaon regions in the state on Friday, resulting in the death of five people, while several others were reported missing.

Several roads in the state were blocked after boulders from the hills blocked them following landslides in many regions.