Several dead, 140 missing as glacier breaks in northern India

At least nine people have been killed and 140 reported missing after part of a mountain glacier broke in northern India, sending a massive flood of water and debris slamming into two dams and damaging a number of homes. 

The flood was caused when a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of Uttarakhand state on Sunday morning. 

A video shared by officials and taken from the side of steep hillside shows a wall of water surging into one of the dams and breaking it into pieces with little resistance before continuing to roar downstream.

The Rishiganga hydropower plant was destroyed, while the Dhauliganga hydropower was damaged, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for paramilitary Indo Tibetan Border Police. 

Both are on the Alaknanda River, which flows from the Himalayan mountains to the Ganges River.

A witness reported a wall of dust, rock, and water as an avalanche roared down a river valley.

"It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone," Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of Raini village, told Reuters by phone. "I felt that even we would be swept away."

Workers trapped in tunnels 

Pandey said at least 16 workers were trapped near a tunnel at the Dhauliganga project. Another 140 workers at the two plants were missing, he said.

Surjeet Singh, a police official, said nine bodies were recovered so far amid intensified rescue operations.

Ravi Bejaria, a government spokesman, said some houses were also damaged in the flooding.

Officials said when the glacier broke it sent water trapped behind it as well as mud and other debris surging down the mountain and into other bodies of water. An advisory was issued urging people living on the banks of the Alaknanda River to move to safer places immediately.

Disaster reminiscent of 2013 incident  

Authorities emptied two dams farther down the river to stop the flood waters from reaching towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh, where popular tourist spots on the banks of the Ganges River were shut and all boating activities were stopped. 

The Himalayan area has a chain of power projects on the Alaknanda River and its tributaries.

Uttarakhand police chief Ashok Kumar said officials immediately alerted residents living in the area and evacuated them to safer places.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet said he was "constantly monitoring the unfortunate situation." He added: "India stands with Uttarakhand and the nation prays for everyone’s safety there."

In 2013, thousands of people were killed in Uttarakhand after heavy rains triggered landslides and floods, washing away thousands of houses and roads and cutting communication links in many parts of the state.

That disaster was dubbed the "Himalayan tsunami" by the media due to the torrents of water unleashed in the mountainous area, which sent mud and rocks crashing down, burying homes, sweeping away buildings, roads, and bridges.

Construction in eco-fragile zone 

Uma Bharti, India's former water resources minister and a senior leader of Modi's party, criticised the construction of a power project in the area.

"When I was a minister I had requested that Himalaya is a very sensitive place, so power projects should not be built on Ganga and its main tributaries," she said on Twitter, referring to the main river that flows from the mountain. 

Environmental experts called for a halt to big hydroelectric projects in the state.

"This disaster again calls for a serious scrutiny of the hydropower dams building spree in this eco-sensitive region," said Ranjan Panda, a volunteer for the Combat Climate Change Network that works on water, environment, and climate crisis issues.

"The government should no longer ignore warnings from experts and stop building hydropower projects and extensive highway networks in this fragile ecosystem."