Rescuers from multiple agencies like the ITBP, NDRF and Army continued their operation on Wednesday to penetrate deeper through tonnes of silt to reach out to workers trapped inside the Tapovan tunnel as the toll in the Uttarakhand flash floods has mounted to 32 with over 170 missing.

The centre of operations, post the Sunday disaster in the border district of Chamoli, remains the large tunnel where an estimated 30-35 workers are believed to have been trapped after the Alaknanda river hurtled down in spate as a result of a possible glacier burst or avalanche in the Himalayas.

The rescuers are "hoping against hope" to find the workers of the Tapovan power project who have gone missing for over three days now.

With every minute passing by, the concern about the safety of these men is mounting.

Officials on the ground and those monitoring the rescue from Delhi told PTI that continuous accumulation of slush and silt inside the tunnel is the biggest hurdle for the rescuers.

"Heavy machines have removed more slush from the tunnel the whole night. A joint team of ITBP, NDRF, SDRF and sister agencies entered into the tunnel this morning.