DEHRADUN: Air rescue operations have resumed for the sixth day in disaster-hit Harsil and Dharali, Uttarkashi.
1,308 people had been safely evacuated so far.
Indian Army's MI-17 and Chinook helicopters, alongside state choppers, tirelessly work on the mission, navigating the challenging mountainous terrain.
State Disaster Management Secretary, Vinod Kumar Suman, informed TNIE that the Limchagad bridge's completion is a major boost to ongoing operations. This vital link connects the India-China border with the revered Gangotri Dham, and its opening is expected to greatly accelerate ground operations and aid movement into the affected zones.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is personally overseeing rescue efforts "Our top priority is to safely evacuate every person and ensure they receive all necessary support," the Chief Minister stated.
"The Limchagad bridge's completion is a significant step forward." With clearer skies and improved connectivity now established, relief work is expected to intensify.
Six days after the devastating cloudburst in Harsil-Dharali, Uttarkashi, the grim search for those buried under metres of debris continues with agonizingly little success.
Despite deploying specialised sniffer dogs and advanced equipment, rescue teams struggle to locate any signs of life beneath the estimated 25-30 feet of mud and boulders that engulfed the area.
Operations intensified over the weekend, with four heavy machinery units deployed since Saturday to clear massive stones and debris from the affected Dharali area.
State Disaster Response Force personnel and other relief teams are also conducting painstaking manual searches, sifting through treacherous muck in a desperate bid to find missing villagers.
The exact number of individuals trapped remains tragically unclear.
While official government figures currently state six fatalities and 16 persons missing in Dharali, local residents paint a far grimmer picture.
Villagers assert the true number of missing exceeds 60, raising serious concerns about the disaster's true scale.
A local community leader, requesting anonymity due to the situation's sensitivity, expressed the community's profound despair.
"We believe far more people are buried than the official count," the leader stated with a heavy heart. "Every passing hour diminishes hope, but we cannot abandon our loved ones."