Tunnel collapse: Uttarakhand CM speaks with PM Modi, 'briefs him' about rescue ops

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Wednesday that he spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the phone today and briefed him about the ongoing rescue operations at Silkyar tunnel, where 40 workers have been trapped for 11 days after a portion of an under construction tunnel collapsed on November 12.

In a series of posts, CM Dhami said, "Respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the phone today and took information about the ongoing rescue operations to provide food, medicines and other essential items to the workers trapped in the tunnel under construction in Silkyara, Uttarkashi and to get them out safely".

CM Dhami added that he informed the Prime Minister about the rescue operations conducted with mutual coordination between central agencies, international experts and the state administration. "During this, he was also informed about the positive progress made in the last 24 hours and the morale boosted by the talks between the workers and their families," CM Dhami added in his post.

"We are receiving continuous guidance from the PM to deal with this difficult situation, which provides new energy to all of us every day to take out the labour brothers quickly and safely with full strength," CM Dhami added. Meanwhile, the location has been identified for vertical drilling to bring out 41 workers trapped inside Silkyara Tunnel, 11 days after the under construction structure collapsed.

As per the Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), Anshu Manish Khulko, "The location for vertical drilling has been identified. Road work for vertical drilling on the hill above the tunnel is almost complete. More than 350 meters of road construction work is complete. BRO is building a road from both Silkyara and Barkot sides which is almost complete."

Meanwhile, a piling machine that was stuck yesterday due to the road being narrow, has now reached the Silkyara tunnel site. On Tuesday, rescuers had attempted 'horizontal drilling' and fed trapped workers with solid cooked food simultaneously.

A total of five agencies-- ONGC, SJVNL, RVNL, NHIDCL, and THDCL-- have been assigned specific responsibilities to evacuate the 41 labourers trapped for 10 days in the 2-km-built portion of the under-construction structure following a landslide. Labourers trapped in Silkyara tunnel were supplied veg pulao, matar-paneer, and chapatis with butter for dinner Tuesday night through a food pipe stuck through the collapsed part of the structure.

The collapse occurred on November 12 during the construction of a tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot, trapping 41 labourers due to a muck fall in a 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel. The NDMA official said that on November 12, the tunnel caved in and that other Barkot side of the tunnel was already closed, as work on that side had not yet started.

On Tuesday morning, rescuers managed to insert an endoscopy camera into the tunnel and the first visuals captured showed the 41 workers had ample space inside the tunnel for them to move about. Visuals of workers trapped inside for the past 10 days emerged on Tuesday morning, has given new hope to worried relatives, some of whom are camping outside the site of the collapsed tunnel structure