Tunnel collapse: The operation to rescue 40 workers trapped in the debris after after a part of an under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Dandalgaon located on Uttarkashi-Yamnotri road in Uttarakhand collapsed on November 12 morning entered its third day on Tuesday. Trucks loaded with 900 mm diameter pipes have been brought to the spot to conduct further operation. Amid the ongoing efforts to safely rescue the trapped people, the Pushkar Singh Dhami government has constituted a six-member expert committee to investigate the tunnel collapse incident.
Details of the rescue operation
Trucks loaded with 900 mm diameter pipes reached Silkyara at around 2.30 am in the early hours of Tuesday.
The government said that a platform is being prepared for the auger machine for horizontal drilling to rescue the trapped labourers by inserting large diameter MS pipes in the part of the Silkyara tunnel blocked by subsidence.
PM Modi takes update of the rescue operation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took information from Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami over phone about the workers trapped in the tunnel near Silkyara, Uttarkashi, Chief Minister’s Office said on Monday evening.
“Giving detailed information about the relief and rescue operations, the Chief Minister said that various state and central agencies are engaged in relief and rescue operations with mutual coordination and promptness,” the CMO said.
The Chief Minister is keeping an eye on the situation, the CMO said.
“Arrangements have been made to send large diameter hume pipes from Haridwar and Dehradun for rescue operations. The Chief Minister said that all the workers trapped inside the tunnel are safe and every effort is being made to get them out soon,” it added.
All trapped workers safe
According to the NDRF and SDRF officials, who are conducting the rescue operation, all workers are safe and are being given oxygen and water. They were successful in establishing a contact with the workers which led to this development.
(With ANI inputs)
