'We sang Garhwali and Nepali songs to keep our spirits up': Survivors recount nightmarish tales of Chamoli disaster

Garhwali and Nepali songs kept their spirits high inside a dark, cold tunnel. “When all hopes were lost, we sang songs, recited shayaris and exercised to keep ourselves going,” recount some National Thermal Power Corporation staff who were stuck inside the underground tunnel at Tapovan in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli where flash floods wreaked havoc following a glacier burst. Members of Indo-Tibetan Border Police rescue people in Chamoli, Uttarakhand The survivors battled for life inside the tunnel for almost seven hours, from around 10am to 5pm. The ITBP came in and rescued us to safety.” Another Nepali worker narrates how it began with a sudden loud thud when he, along with his colleagues, was working inside the tunnel.