At Least 9 Killed, 140 Missing After Glacier Breaks in India’s Himalayas

At Least 9 Killed, 140 Missing After Glacier Breaks in India’s Himalayas
People inspect the site near the damaged Dhauliganga hydropower project at Reni village in Chamoli district after a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of the northern state of Uttarakhand, on Feb. 7, 2021. AP Photo
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RISHIKESH, India—Indian rescue crews struggled to reach trapped victims Sunday after part of a glacier in the Himalayas broke off and released a torrent of water and debris that slammed into two hydroelectric plants. At least nine people were killed and 140 were missing.

Video from India’s northern state of Uttarakhand showed the muddy, concrete-gray floodwaters tumbling through a valley and surging into a dam, breaking it into pieces with little resistance before roaring on downstream. The flood turned the countryside into what looked like an ash-colored moonscape.