Trapped workers' kin losing patience

With mechanical drilling facing hurdles repeatedly and not making desired progress, the relatives of the trapped labourers are losing patience gradually. “For the last two days we are being assured by officials that they (trapped workers) are being evacuated soon but something or the other happens and the process gets delayed,” Devender Kisku from Banka in Bihar whose brother Virender Kisku is among the trapped workers said in a tone of disappointment.

The multi-agency rescue effort began November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed following a landslide, trapping workers inside. The workers are in a built-up two-kilometre stretch of the tunnel. The trapped workers are being sent food, medicines and other essentials through the six-inch wide pipe.

A communication system has been set up, using the pipe, and the workers' relatives have spoken to them. An endoscopic camera was also pushed through this pipe, allowing rescue workers to see the condition inside.