Scores of people missing feared dead after glacier crashes into dam triggering huge flood in India

Scores of people are missing and feared dead after a glacier crashed into a dam and triggered a huge flood in northern India.

A portion of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off in the Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand on Sunday morning, damaging the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga hydropower projects.

At least 150 people were working at the two power plants and their fate is unknown, said Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for paramilitary Indo Tibetan Border Police.

Indian authorities have launched a search operation.

Rescue workers in India after the flood
AP

At least three people are already known to have died after their bodies were recovered near a tunnel of the Dhauliganga project, where at least 16 workers remained trapped.

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.

A number of homes were also damaged in the flooding.

An advisory was issued urging people living on the banks of the Alaknanda River to move to safer places immediately.

Several teams of rescuers were rushed to the affected area, officials said.

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

In 2013, more than 1,000 people were killed in Uttarakhand after heavy rain triggered landslides and floods, washing away thousands of houses and roads and cutting communication links in many parts of the state.

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