Ramban tunnel collapse news updates: The operation to rescue ten laborers feared trapped under the debris following the collapse of an under-construction tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway ended on Saturday evening, officials said.
The officials declared all those trapped under the debris dead. They also stated that the family members of the deceased have been informed.
So far, nine bodies of laborers have been found during the rescue operation. Three others were rescued when the audit tunnel of T3 on the highway near Khooni Nallah In Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district caved in at the start of the work at around 10.15 pm on Thursday (May 19).
Five of the nine of the bodies identified belong to labourers from West Bengal. Another person was from Assam, two from Nepal, and two others were local.
What Deputy Commissioner of Ramban said earlier?
"Operation for 09 missing persons at Khooni Nallah adit tunnel site feared trapped inside debris began at 5.30 am early morning today (Saturday) and continues. NDRF and SDRF part of the operation," Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, Mussarat Islam said in a tweet.
Know more details about the tragedy:
On Friday (May 20) evening, over 15 rescuers, including the Station House Officer (SHO) of Ramsu police station, Nayeem-Ul-Haq, had a narrow escape during the fresh landslide, prompting the authorities to suspend the rescue operation. It could not be resumed until this morning due to shooting of stones from the hillock, heavy rains and strong winds, officials said.
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The rescue operation resumed on Saturday with authorities pressing three earthmovers and rock-breakers to reach out to the trapped workers, they said.
Additional personnel along with magistrates have been deployed to speed up the rescue operation, they added.
Details of trapped labourers:
Those still trapped under the debris are Jadav Roy (23), Gautam Roy (22), Dipak Roy (33) and Parimal Roy (38), all from West Bengal, Shiva Chouhan (26) from Assam, Nepali citizens Nawaraj Chowdhury (26) and Khushi Ram (25), and Jammu and Kashmir residents Muzaffar (38) and Israt (30), officials said.
All of them were employed by a company tasked with auditing the tunnel.
Earlier, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Ramesh Kumar and Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu, Mukesh Singh visited the incident site, while Lt Governor Manoj Sinha monitored the situation from a control room and was briefed about intermittent shooting stones, which have been obstructing the rescue operation.
ALSO READ: J&K: Part of tunnel on national highway collapses in Ramban; 3 rescued, several trapped | Watch
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