Uttarakhand glacier burst: Officials to declare 136 missing as dead

New Delhi, Feb 23: Officials on Tuesday said that 136 people who went missing since a glacier burst in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district earlier this month unleashed an avalanche and flash floods, will be declared dead.

The glacier burst in the upper Himalayas that caused the avalanche and deluge in the Dhauliganga-Alakananda river system washed away a hydroelectric station and five bridges, besides severely damaging another power project.

A multi-agency track-and-rescue effort, involving the state and national disaster response teams, the armed forces, paramilitary, and police, was launched after the district was hit by the tragedy.

Families have been called to test the DNA samples of all those who went missing.

Earlier, the death toll in the Uttarakhand glacier burst incident has reached 70 after two more bodies were recovered from the debris, according to the state government on Tuesday.

"According to the information received from the disaster control room yesterday, one dead body was recovered from Srinagar Chauras and one from Kirti Nagar. Of the 206 missings, 70 bodies and 29 human organs have been recovered so far," said the Uttarakhand government.