Uttarkashi: After 17 days of agony for the 41 trapped labourers in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi, on Tuesday, November 28, rescuers broke through the debris and managed to pull all of the workers out to freedom.
All the workers were successfully evacuated from the safety tunnel to the ambulances, ANI reported.
Union minister V K Singh and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami welcomed the workers as National Disaster Response Force men brought them out through a steel chute that lined a 60-metre escape passage.
There was hugging and cheers as the ordeal ended. Outside the tunnel some people chanted “Har Har Mahadev” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”
Before this, the workers were given a quick medical checkup as they emerged out of the steel pipe.
The development came hours after the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that the rescue operation is “near a breakthrough”, but not yet there as rat miners and Army engineers have been able to cut through 58 metres of debris and push in a pipe with the help of an auger machine.
A part of the under-construction tunnel had collapsed on November 12 and efforts were on since then to rescue the men.
Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said that the work of laying pipes in the tunnel to take out the workers has been completed and soon all will be brought out.
The relief and rescue work is being carried out by scientists, international experts, NDRF, SDRF, Army and BRO.
(With excerpts from agencies)
