After hours of drilling through the rubble of rock, concrete, and mud, the rescue team managed to free all 41 Indian construction workers who had been stranded in a collapsed mountain tunnel in northern India for 17 days.
The guys were finally brought out on wheeled stretchers on Tuesday in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, after days of many rescue attempts that failed to reach them by mere metres. The attempt occurred through a 90-centimeter (three-foot) wide steel pipe.
In around sixty minutes, the delicate operation’s last stage was finished.
The 4.5-kilometer (three-mile) tunnel under construction in Uttarakhand had trapped the low-wage labourers from some of the poorest regions of India since it had collapsed early on November 12. Everywhere in the nation had been keenly monitoring the complex and arduous efforts to bring them out for days.
The state’s senior elected official, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, met with a few of the workers before to their hospitalisation and gave them customary marigold garlands. Helicopters and ambulances were waiting at the tunnel’s entrance.
The workers seemed to be in good condition, according to officials at the location, where candy was being given out and firecrackers were let off in celebration.
The New Delhi Television channel was informed by one of the rescuers, Devender, who only provided his first name, that “the trapped workers were overjoyed when they spotted us in the tunnel.” Some came running over to give me hugs.
“We had decided that we would work 24/7 and not leave until we bring them all out,” stated Vakil, a different rescuer.
The successful rescue of 41 trapped labourers from the Silkyara Tunnel Collapse fills me with immense relief and happiness.
This was one of the biggest rescue missions in recent memory, a well-coordinated effort involving several agencies. Numerous divisions and…
Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari said in a statement, “I am completely relieved and happy as 41 trapped labourers in the Silkyara tunnel collapse have been successfully rescued.” “This was one of the most important rescue operations in recent years, a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies.”
In order to remove the boulders and debris covering the final nine metres (29 feet), military engineers were forced to employ a method known as “rat-hole mining,” which involved hand excavation in frigid conditions in the isolated mountainous area.
The men were secure underground, according to the authorities, and they had access to water, light, and medication via a conduit. After going for days without eating and only receiving hot meals through a 15cm (six-inch) conduit, they were receiving oxygen through a different pipe.
Reporters were informed by Arnold Dix, head of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, that the workers were doing well and that they had been “playing cricket” while confined. Dix had been providing advice to the rescue crew.
The tunnel is a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious $1.5 billion Char Dham highway project, which intends to build a 890-kilometer (550-mile) network of roadways connecting four Hindu pilgrimage sites.
According to some experts, the project will make the precarious situation in the upper Himalayas worse, since a number of settlements are constructed on the debris from past landslides.
The region is prone to landslides, earthquakes, and floods, however officials have not stated what caused the tunnel collapse.
According to the government, safe environmental practises were used to improve the safety of geologically unstable areas. It also mandated an evaluation of 29 tunnels being constructed around India by the National Highways Authority of India.
(Al Jazeera)
