India glacier burst: Rescue workers looking for 180 people feared dead in Uttarakhand

At least 180 people are missing and 19 have died in northern India after part of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river sending a devastating avalanche of water, dust and rocks down a mountain gorge, and crashing though a dam.

Rescue teams worked through the night to find survivors trapped under the debris. Most of the missing are workers from two hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, which were hit by the avalanche.

Footage from Sunday's disaster shows a fast-moving wall of water and rocks barreling down a narrow gorge and smashing through a dam at the smaller hydroelectric project before surging downstream, wiping out buildings trees and people.

Some 2,500 people in 13 villages were cut off by the ensuing flash floods, Ashok Kumar, senior official with the Uttarakhand police said Monday.

Rescue efforts Monday were focused on clearing sludge and debris from a tunnel at the larger state-owned hydroelectric project. About 30 to 35 workers are believed to be trapped inside.

According to Reuters, teams had managed to drill through 150 meters of the 2.5 km (1.5 miles) long tunnel, but the sheer volume of debris was slowing progress. On Sunday, rescuers pulled out alive 12 people who had been trapped in another, smaller tunnel at the same site, according to Kumar.