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Mumbai · Tuesday, 18 August 2026

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Death toll in Uttarakhand tunnel tragedy hits 10 as 2 more bodies recovered

By Sohail Khan 18 August 2026, 6:13 pm

The bodies of two missing workers were recovered from the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Tuesday—five days after a landslide left 22 workers trapped in it—taking the number of lives lost in the tragedy to 10.

State Disaster Response Force Commandant Arpan Yaduvanshi told that the six-day-long search and rescue operation, involving nearly 200 personnel, concluded on Tuesday at the site of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation India Limited’s Vishnugad-Pipalkoti Hydroelectric Project.

According to officials, the workers were concreting the lining of the tunnel—an underground passage for water discharge—when the tragedy struck on August 13. Initially, 12 workers were rescued and the bodies of seven workers were recovered. The rescued workers sustained injuries in the incident.

An eighth body was recovered on August 15. The two bodies recovered on Tuesday were identified as those of Chetan Poyam from Chhattisgarh and Lukas Topno from Jharkhand.

The workers were deployed by Hindustan Construction Company.

The state government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

An official said water and debris in the tunnel, as well as cement, metallic equipment, and heavy machines submerged in the mud, made the rescue operation challenging. Submerged machines were cut, and machines were installed to drain water out of the tunnel.

The National Disaster Response Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Army, Central Industrial Security Force, and the police also joined the rescue operation.

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