Rescue efforts continue in Uttarakhand's Harshil and Dharali after a cloudburst caused flash floods and landslides this week. Fifty-nine people - 50 civilians and nine soldiers - are still missing and five deaths have been confirmed so far.
Here are the top 10 points in this big story:
- 274 tourists - including 131 from Gujarat and 123 from Maharashtra - stranded in Gangotri and other areas have been evacuated. They are being moved to Uttarkashi and Dehradun.
- Action plans to rescue other stranded people include air-lifting paramilitary troops and medical teams using the Army's Chinook helicopters. The Boeing CH-47 Chinook - a heavy-lift tandem rotor aircraft used for troop and supply transport - will deploy from a helipad at Harshil, while Russian-made Mi-17 choppers will operate from another base in Nelong.
- The Mi-17 helicopters will transport National Disaster Response Force personnel and medics to affected areas and return with stranded tourists. The Nelong base is being used for this as road links remain open. A third helipad - a civilian facility in Dharali - is still non-operational.
- Helicopters operated by the Indo Tibetan Border Police, or ITBP, were also deployed. By 10 am Thursday they had rescued 61 people from the affected areas and transported them to Matli. One of the rescued persons was airlifted to a hospital for immediate medical aid.
- The use of helicopters has greatly improved relief and rescue efforts, making it easier to bring back stranded people or send emergency personnel to save them. The flash floods and landslides had blocked key road links. On Wednesday 190 people were rescued from Dharali.
- Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the Matli helipad and met individuals who had been airlifted from the flood-affected Dharali village. He assured them of all possible assistance from the state and also spoke to emergency services personnel.
- Apart from challenging weather conditions and difficult terrain, rescuers also have to search through mountains of mud and debris to locate survivors or bodies. To help them the administration is using ground-penetrating radar systems and sniffer dogs.
- Officials said nearly massive mudslides had buried nearly half of Dharali. The village is a key stop en route to Gangotri, the origin of the Ganges, and has many hotels and homestays.
- Lieutenant General Raghu Srinivasan, the Director-General of the Border Roads Organisation, said there are four major landslide points in the 96km between Harshil and Dharali; much of that road is completely under water now, he said. "... efforts are underway to restore roads," he said, adding, "We can either restore the old road or carve out a fresh one..."
- The impact of the flash floods in Uttarkashi is being felt across the region and there are spots were rescue teams have not been able to reach yet. One such spot is the Harsil Valley, which has been cut off due to the collapse of the 100-meter iron bridge.
