Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue: All 41 Trapped Workers Rescued On Day 17
41 construction workers who had been trapped inside the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, were evacuated to safety on Tuesday. The massive multi-agency operation, which also involved some international experts, achieved its mission on Tuesday evening.
Ending their over-two week-long ordeal, the 41 construction workers who had been trapped inside the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, were evacuated to safety on Tuesday.
Uttarkarshi tunnel collapse UPDATE: Photos of the first worker rescued from the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/Iq0iVHOarv
¡ª Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 28, 2023
#WATCH | The first worker among the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand since November 12, has been successfully rescued. pic.twitter.com/Tbelpwq3Tz
¡ª ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2023
The massive multi-agency operation, which also involved some international experts, achieved its mission on Tuesday evening following days of setbacks after setbacks.
PHOTO | Uttarkarshi tunnel collapse UPDATE: Workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel since November 12 are being rescued. 41 workers were trapped in the tunnel since November 12. They will be taken to the Chinyalisaur Community Health Center. pic.twitter.com/sHHRb9EDsc
¡ª Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 28, 2023
AFP
How the rescue was carried out
Multiple agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), project executing agency National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had joined the rescue efforts.
#WATCH | Uttarkashi tunnel rescue | Ambulances leave from the Silkyara tunnel site as 35 workers among the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand since November 12 have been successfully rescued. pic.twitter.com/K5hboVEa0I
¡ª ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2023
The final piece of the puzzle, the last pipe to create the escape path for the trapped men, was laid by manual drilling after the American-made Auger machine broke down on the weekend.
BCCL
After the pipe-laying through the tunnel was completed, the NDRF team that was tasked to pull the men out of the collapsed tunnel went inside and brought them back to safety, one by one.
What happened on November 12
As the 41 construction workers who had been stuck inside the Silkyara tunnel since November 12 crawled out through the pipe, their loved ones who had been waiting for the moment and some locals who has been camping there broke into celebrations.
#WATCH | Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue: Locals distribute sweets outside Silkyara tunnel as trapped workers are being rescued from the tunnel pic.twitter.com/oASZAy8unf
¡ª ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2023
A portion of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, blocking the exit and trapping the 41 workers inside.
AFP
Where is Silkyara tunnel?
The Silkyara tunnel is located on the Yamunotri National Highway near Silkyara and is part of the Chardham Highway Project.
The Silkyara Tunnel is 4531 meters long and is being constructed at a cost of Rs 853.79 crore.
Once completed, the all-weather Char Dham Road Project aims to reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri Dham by 26 kilometres.
Why the rescue took 17 days
A rescue operation was launched to evacuate the 41 workers on November 12 itself, but technical snags repeatedly delayed it.
AFP
Initially, the rescue team used a small drilling machine, but after it failed to make any significant progress, a much larger, American-made auger machine was airlifted from Delhi to speed up the efforts.
The auger machine was assembled and started working on November 17, but it suffered damages after hitting an object.
This forced the authorities to flow in another auger machine, failing to cut through the massive pile of rubble blocking the tunnel.
On November 24, the machine finally snapped after drilling through 48-metres of the 57-metre debris stretch and got stuck there.
It took another two days for the machine to be pulled out, and in the meantime, rat-hole mining experts were brought from Uttar Pradesh.
REUTERS
The rat-hole mining experts got to work on Monday and painstakingly drilled through the last few metres of the debris on Tuesday, ending one of the most complicated rescue operations in the country's history.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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