On november 12, the Silkyara tunnel, which was part of the Centre's grandiose Char Dham project, collapsed owing to a landslip. At around 7 p.m., rat-hole mining professionals burst through the last stretch of debris. A team from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force, assam (SDRF) entered the steel chute to rescue the trapped workers, bringing them out one by one on wheeled stretchers. An ambulance carrying the first of the 41 workers left the tunnel at 8 p.m., nearly an hour after a crew of rat-hole mining professionals dug through the final length of rubble.
On tuesday, as the rescue effort neared completion, the trapped workers emerged from the Uttarkashi tunnel, some smiling and others looking thankful and fatigued. Outside the tunnel, crowds met the ambulances that brought the workers to community health centres with loud shouts and slogans, as residents distributed streets. Meanwhile, anxious relatives who had been sleeping nearby were overcome with emotion as they were reunited with the workers after days of uncertainty.
click and follow Indiaherald WhatsApp channel