Rescuers are trying to locate the bodies trapped under the boulders
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh has said the drowning of 24 students in Beas River was not caused by negligence on the part of authorities.
25 people were washed away, at Thalaut in Mandi district, when water was released into the river without warning from a hydropower project on June 8, Sunday. (
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24 engineering students from the V N R Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad and a tour operator were washed away into the turbulent river by a wall of water while they were busy clicking photographs near the Larji Hydropower project. (
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A probe is going on and conclusions can be drawn only after that, Mr Singh told reporters on Saturday.
When queried about reports that the mishap occurred due to negligence on the part of the Larji Hydropower project authorities, Mr Singh said that was not the case. (
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"We have ordered a probe by the Divisional Commissioner of Mandi. Conclusions can be drawn once we have the probe report," said Mr Singh.
The water level in the Beas River was lowered on Saturday for the first time to find the remaining 16 missing students and one tour operator.
Eight bodies have been recovered so far, most of them either trapped under the rocks or buried in the silt in the riverbed within three-km radius of the accident spot Thalaut, located on the Chandigarh-Manali national highway-21, in Mandi district. (
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Jaideep Singh, commanding officer of the National Disaster Response Force, said the focus of the search operation was to locate the bodies trapped under the boulders.
"Our jawans are trying to reach out to each and every boulder," he added.
Mr Singh has issued directions to all hydropower project authorities to follow the requisite steps before releasing water, including use of hooters and announcements on loudspeakers mounted on vehicles.
A case of negligence has been registered against authorities of the hydropower project.