From the flood-ravaged Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project site, two more bodies were recovered, taking the death toll in the glacier-burst calamity in Uttarakhand to 67 even as the search operations continued there for the 15th day on Sunday.

Three bodies had been recovered from the desilting tank near the Tapovan project barrage by Saturday evening while two more were taken out late at night, district administration officials said.

At the project site, search operation  has been underway on a war footing basis for a fortnight since it bore the brunt of an avalanche triggered by a glacier burst over Rishi Ganga in Chamoli district on February 7.

The 13.2 MW Rishi Ganga hydel project was totally demolished in the avalanche while the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel project suffered extensive damage.

The recovery of five bodies on Saturday takes the toll in the tragedy to 67 while 137 are still missing.

NDRF, SDRF, DRDO, ITBP teams are working at the glacier and downstream sites to salvage the situation and extract the people and survivors from the place.

“Water level of the river is likely to rise. We are installing a gauge to measure its depth and water level,” said Aditya P Singh, Deputy Commandant, NDRF.

After a detailed survey of the lake formed in the upper reaches of Chamoli, ITBP and DRDO teams returned to Joshimath.

Meanwhile, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) had said on Thursday that 12 of its teams are engaged in the rescue operation for missing people from Reni village to Srinagar and the communication team is also working simultaneously for better communication in the area.

SDRF said that search and rescue operations will continue for a long time due to a large amount of debris and mud stocked inside the tunnel. A water sensor-based warning system has been installed in the Reni village to warn for emergencies.