As We Await A Miracle At Tapovan Tunnel, Here Are Few Incidents From The World To Be Optimistic

Times is ticking for the nearly 30 people who have been stranded inside the Tapovan tunnel in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand since Sunday following the glacier mishap.

Even though some 500 personnel from ITBP, NDRF, SDRF and state police are still trying to find them, the search has not made much headway so far.

Reuters

They are trapped in the 12-ft-high and about 2.5-km-long 'head race tunnel' (HRT) and according to a senior official, the rescuers have not been able to make any contact with those stuck inside but are hopeful for "signs of life".

On Thursday, there was a minor setback after the rescue operation had to be temporarily suspended after a drilling machine broke down.

But officials and the kin of those trapped inside are not giving up hope for a miracle to happen.

Because there have been such miracles around the world.

Thailand cave rescue

Probably the most famous of such miracles to have happened around the world was from Thailand in 2018. A group of 12 boys aged between eleven to sixteen and their football coach were trapped inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand on June 23 after it was flooded. From Elon Musk to Kirloskar in India, the world quite literally came together to search for the boys and after 18 days all of them were rescued after divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton found the group alive on an elevated rock about 4 kilometres from the cave mouth.

AFP

The rescue effort involved over 10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, scores of rescue workers, representatives from about 100 governmental agencies, 900 police officers, and 2,000 soldiers; and it required ten police helicopters, seven ambulances, more than 700 diving cylinders, and the pumping of more than a billion litres of water from the caves.

China mine rescue

A very recent incident from China, where a group of 11 gold miners was brought to safety last month with most of them in good condition after 14 days trapped underground after an explosion.

Reuters

The explosion in the Hushan mine in Qixia on January 10 had trapped 22 workers about 600 metres underground. While one of them died, ten are unaccounted for and are presumed dead. Some 600 rescuers have been on the site working to reach the men.

Beirut explosion's miracle girl

It was one of the few heartwarming moments from a catastrophe. 12-year-old Diana Omar was found alive from the rubble of the deadly explosion that hit Lebanon's capital Beirut in August 2020.

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Rescue workers had given up hope of finding anyone alive after 24 hours of digging, when a dust-covered head popped up from under the mound, giving the rescue team something to cheer about amid the gloom.

Nepal earthquake's miracle boy

In 2015 Nepal was hit by a massive earthquake that killed more than 5,500 people. But a 15-year-old boy was lucky to be found by the rescue team, five days after the quake.

BCCL

Pemba Tamang who worked at the guesthouse as a bellboy had said that he stayed alive by eating ghee.

114 Chinese coal miners

In March 2010, the half-built Wangjialing mine in northern China was flooded with millions of gallons of water.

A total of 261 people were in the mine when workers first broke through an abandoned shaft that was filled with water. Over 100 managed to escape, but 153 workers were trapped in nine different platforms of the mine.

AFP

After a week of being trapped, 9 workers were rescued during the early morning hours of April 5, and sent to a hospital in Hejin. In the same day, a total of 115 trapped workers had been rescued and were quickly sent to hospitals; 26 of them were in a poor state of health. According to survivors, some ate paper and chewed on coal for hunger relief.