Toll in U'khand calamity rises to 72

Chamoli

The 72nd body was recovered late on Friday evening, Chamoli's Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said on Saturday. Meanwhile, rescue operations in the avalanche hit-areas continued for the 21st day on Saturday, he said. So far 72 bodies and 30 human body parts have been recovered from different places in the avalanche-hit areas out of which 41 bodies have been identified, he said adding 132 persons are still missing. Meanwhile, the NTPC whose Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project was one of the worst-hit by the February 7 disaster, has deposited a sum of Rs 3.52 crore in the chief judicial magistrate's court to be paid as compensation to 25 affected families as per a list issued by the state government, a company spokesperson said. The rest of the families will also be paid compensation after the state government issues death certificates of their missing kin, he said.