Rescuers used heavy machinery to remove slush clogging a tunnel in the Indian Himalayas on Friday in a search for 35 people missing since a Feb 7 flash flood, though hopes of finding anyone alive were fading.

Those trapped in the tunnel in the northern state of Uttarakhand were among 171 people still unaccounted for after water, rocks and debris possibly triggered by an avalanche surged down the Dhauliganga river valley, destroying dams and bridges.