42 missing, 1,278 rescued after Dharali disaster: Garhwal commissioner – myuttarakhandnews.com | Uttarakhand News in English | Dehradun News Today| News Uttarakhand | Uttarakhand latest news

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE | Uttarkashi The Garhwal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey has stated that at least 42 persons are confirmed missing following the disaster at Dharali in Uttarkashi district. Interacting with the media at the disaster control room, Uttarkashi on Monday, Pandey said till date information about 43 missing people has been received by the administration and out of them, the body of one youth Akash Panwar was recovered. He said that out of the 42 missing, eight people are from Dharali village and nine are army personnel. Pandey said that the missing include five people from nearby areas of Dharali and one from Tehri district. He said that 13 people from Bihar and six from Uttar Pradesh are also missing.  The commissioner said that information about 29 labourers from Nepal were reported missing and after the restoration of mobile network authorities have established contact with five labourers. He said that no detailed information from the labour contractors was received about 24 missing labourers from Nepal. The commissioner said that the contractors have been directed to fetch more information about these labourers. He expressed the possibility that some of the missing labourers might have escaped the disaster and moved to other places. The commissioner said that a total of 1,278 people have so far been rescued from the disaster affected area. He said that the administration has accorded top priority to find people buried in the debris and for it a team of NDRF with a senior officer is camping at the disaster site. An IG rank officer of SDRF is also deployed in Dharali. The government has sent a team of 10 geologists at the site.  Pandey informed that UJVNL and Irrigation department have started work to extract water from the temporary lake on Bharathai River.  Inspector General Garhwal range Rajiv Swaroop accompanied the Garhwal commissioner in the press briefing.