A massive operation has been on since the night on February 7 to rescue some 39 people believed to be trapped inside a tunnel after a glacier burst in Uttarakhand caused flash floods that left 18 dead & over 200 missing. The 12-foot high & 15-foot wide tunnel at Tapovan in Chamoli was blocked with slush & debris, trapping workers of an NTPC thermal power plant that was washed away. The tunnel is over 2.5 km long with just one entry & bifurcates into two, officials said, adding that it was hard to tell where the workers were trapped or whether they were together at all. Reportedly, it was believed that 34 people were trapped in one of the offshoots & five in the other. There has been no contact with any of them so far. The operation will be 24X7, an official told NDTV. To take stock of the situation, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on February 8 visited Chamoli district and said that saving lives was their first priority.