The state labour department has said that seven tourists from Jamtara are missing in Uttarakhand where a glacier break on Sunday triggered an avalanche leading to massive flooding that has destroyed two hydel projects in addition to hundreds of homes.

Officials manning the helpline set up by the state labour department said that on Tuesday, they received fresh information of eight missing persons, taking the total number of missing to 21.

The missing tourists are from Jamtara’s Mihijam block. “They had gone for vacation and are reported missing from Dehradun,” said an official quoting data prepared by officials manning the state helplines.

Ramgarh deputy commissioner Sandip Singh clarified to the media that four, not six, persons of the district were missing. “Initially, we got information of six persosn from Gola block missing in Chamoli. But today (Tuesday), four missing persons are confirmed. Attempts are on to trace them,” he said.

Nine missing workers from Lohardaga district still remain untraced.

One worker is missing from Bokaro. He has been identified as Amrit Kumar, a resident of Mugsarla in Petarwar block. He was working at Ritvik Projects, a private company. “He was in Vishnugarh in Tapovan in Chamoli,” said the official.

Ten residents of Latehar are stranded in Chamoli. “All are residents of Jagir village in Bariatu block in Latehar. They are labourers too,” he added.

Meanwhile, with the recovery of five more bodies, the death toll rose to 31 in Chamoli and at least over 100 are reported missing even as various agencies were working round-the-clock.

On Monday, chief minister Hemant Soren used Twitter to announce the setting up of a dozen helpline numbers in an effort to establish contact with those from the state who had been stranded in Uttarakhand.