Time running out for workers trapped under rocks and mud in Indian glacier disaster

Time was running out to save dozens of people trapped in a tunnel three days after a devastating flash flood probably caused by a glacier burst in India's Himalayan north, officials said on Wednesday.

More than 170 people were missing after a barrage of water and debris hurtled with terrifying speed and power down a valley on Sunday morning, sweeping away bridges and roads and hitting two hydroelectric plants.

Thirty-two bodies were found, officials said on Wednesday. It may take days for more bodies to be recovered from beneath tonnes of rocks and other debris and the thick blanket of grey mud.

Twenty-five of the bodies are yet to be identified. Many of the victims are poor workers from hundreds of kilometres away in other parts of India whose whereabouts at the time of the disaster may not be known.

The main focus of the rescue operation, under way day and night since Sunday, is a tunnel near a severely damaged hydroelectric plant that was under construction at Tapovan in Uttarakhand state.

Workers there have been battling their way through hundreds of tonnes of sludge, boulders and other obstacles to try to reach 34 people who rescuers hope are alive in air pockets.

"As time passes, the chances of finding them are reducing. But miracles do happen," Piyoosh Rautela, a senior state disaster relief official, told AFP.

"There's only so much that one can do. We can't push in [several] bulldozers together. We are working round the clock – man, machinery, we are all working round the clock. But the amount of debris is so much that it's going to take a while to remove all that," he said.

Vivek Pandey, a spokesman for the border police, told the Times of India that if the 34 are alive, the biggest concern is hypothermia, "which can be fatal in such conditions".

Outside the tunnel there were medical teams on standby with oxygen cylinders and stretchers, as well as anxious relatives.

Shuhil Dhiman, 47, said that his brother-in-law Praveen Diwan, a private contractor and father of three, had driven into the tunnel on Sunday morning with three others when the flood hit.

"We don't know what happened to him. We went near the tunnel but there are tonnes of slush coming out. The tunnel has a sharp slope from the opening and I think water and slush has gone deep inside," Mr Dhiman said.

"I am hoping against hope," he said. "The authorities are doing their best but the situation is beyond anyone's ability."

The disaster is being blamed on rapidly melting glaciers in the Himalayan region caused by global warming.

Building activity for dams, the dredging of riverbeds for sand and the clearing of trees for new roads – some to beef up defences on the Chinese border – are other factors.