More than 15 Indian workers trapped after hydroelectric tunnel blast kills nine
Rescue teams are struggling to reach trapped workers as toxic gas and water slow operations, officials said.
- A methane explosion at the 500-megawatt Teesta Hydroelectric Project in Sikkim killed 20 workers on Monday, leaving five trapped at the Samardung-Jholungey site about 40 kilometers from Gangtok.
- The Teesta River basin features fragile rock formations riddled with fractures that trap ancient gases, making tunneling in this seismically active Himalayan region inherently hazardous.
- National Disaster Response Force personnel struggle to enter the tunnel due to toxic gas and water buildup, while most victims were migrant laborers from West Bengal and Punjab.
- Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang ordered a special investigation, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 400,000 compensation for each victim's kin, stating, "I extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved families."
- Tamang described this as India's worst tunnel incident since the 2023 Silkyara collapse, where 41 men were trapped for 17 days, as scientists warn that climate-driven glacial retreat increases construction risks.
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181 Articles
At least 22 bodies have been recovered from a tunnel in the Indian state of Sikkim. The tunnel is under construction at a project of the state-owned company National Hydroelectric Power Corp, where an explosion occurred on Monday. The explosion is believed to have been caused by the sudden release of methane gas in the tunnel. At the time of the explosion, 27 employees and officials of the company were present. Two managed to leave the tunnel u…
ussanews.com
20 dead and 5 missing in India tunnel collapse
Thirteen bodies have been recovered from a tunnel that was under-construction in the northeastern state of Sikkim At least 20 people are dead and five are missing after a gas explosion inside an under-construction tunnel at a hydropower project in India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, officials said. State-owned NHPC, which builds and operates mainly...
Saudi Gazette
AlKhaleej TodayTunnel collapse in India kills 20 as rescuers try to reach five workers still trapped
At least 20 workers were killed after a portion of an under-construction tunnel collapsed following a gas explosion in the Indian Himalayas, officials said.
(Hanoi=Yonhap News) Correspondent Park Jin-hyung = A tunnel collapsed due to an explosion of buried methane gas at a hydroelectric power plant construction site located in the Himalayas of Sikkim, northeastern India...
Explosion in tunnel at Indian hydropower project leaves at least 12 dead and 13 missing
A suspected gas explosion collapsed part of a tunnel under construction at a hydropower project in India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, leaving at least 12 people dead and 13 missing, officials said Tuesday.
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