As many as 15 labourers from Jharkhand are among the hundreds missing at Chamoli in Uttarakhand where a glacier-break on Sunday triggered an avalanche and flash floods, district officers said on Monday as the Hemant Soren government set up a control room with helpline numbers to make it easier for families to establish contact with the authorities.

While nine of the missing workers are from Lohardaga, six are from Ramgarh. Lohardaga deputy commissioner Dilip Kumar Toppo said the nine are for Bethat village. "Their family members contacted us today (Monday) to say that they had gone to work in an NTPC plant at Chamoli. We are trying to establish contact with the Uttarakhand authorities," he said.

Ramgarh deputy commissioner Sandip Singh said six residents of Gola block had gone to work at the same NPTC construction site in Chamoli. "They went there through a third-party contractor. Their family members informed us that they are missing. We are trying to gather more information,” he said.

Chief minister Hemant Soren, who is in Maldives on a family vacation, used Twitter to announce the setting up of the control room with helplines.

“Students, labourers or anyone else of the state who are stranded may contact Jharkhand government on these numbers. People may also send Whatsapp messages on the notified numbers. We request people not to panic. The state government will extend all possible help to the needy,” he tweeted.

The helpline numbers are: 0651-490055/ 2490083/ 2490037/ 2490058/ 2490052/ 2490125. Numbers with Whatsapp are: 97401135291/ 9431336427/ 9431336398/ 9431336472/ 9431336432.

Officials said the control room had been set up at the state labour department. “All the numbers have been activated and are manned to answer both voice and Whatsapp messages. Our teams will be alert and work with alacrity _ just like the way officials coordinated help during the migrant crisis last year when the nationwide lockdown was announced in the wake of Covid-19,” said a senior officer.

He said they handled over 8 lakh calls during the lockdown and over five lakh migrants were brought back to Jharkhand safely via air, rail and road.

“We are also in touch with our counterparts in Uttarakhand to identify if anyone belonging to Jharkhand is stranded so that we can make the necessary arrangements,” he said.

According to a PTI report from Dehradun, 18 bodies had been recovered and 202 were still missing, officials at Chamoli district said on Monday, as multiple agencies joined hands to rescue at least 30 workers trapped in a tunnel at a power project site.

With more bodies being recovered, the death toll touched 18 and could go higher, officials in the state emergency operation centre said. The 202 still missing include those working at hydel power project sites as well as nearby villagers whose homes were washed away with the force of the raging waters, officials said.