Uttarakhand: CM Dhami visits Uttarkashi tunnel collapse site; rescue efforts on
All the workers, who have been trapped for more than 24 hours now, are said to be safe
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday (November 13) visited the site in Uttarkashi where 40 workers are currently trapped after an under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway partially collapsed a day back.
All the workers, who have been trapped for more than 24 hours now, are said to be safe.
Rescuers who worked overnight trying to prepare an escape passage for the labourers have managed to contact them on walkie-talkies and they have provided them with food and water, said the Silkyara police control room.
Officials said attempts were being made to stabilise the constantly falling loose debris. The director of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), which is building the tunnel, Anshu Manish Khalko said loose debris hampering the rescue efforts was being stabilised using shotcrete – a process involving spraying concrete.
Khalko said, "All the trapped labourers are safe. They have been contacted several times on walkie-talkie and edibles and drinking water have been supplied to them.
District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela went inside the tunnel on Monday morning to review the rescue efforts and discuss the strategy to save the labourers.
Dhami was accompanied by Garhwal Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey as he arrived in Silkyara to assess the situation.
30m stretch tunnel affected
A nearly 30-metre stretch of the tunnel being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon has been affected by the cave-in that happened on Sunday morning.
Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and police launched a search and rescue operation immediately after being informed of the accident, said Superintendent of Police (Uttarkashi) Arpan Yaduvanshi.
Quoting officials from National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), which is building the tunnel, Yaduvanshi had initially put the number of labourers trapped in the tunnel at 36.
However, the District Emergency Operation Centre later released a list of 40 labourers trapped inside. They are from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
Oxygen is being pumped into the collapsed section of the tunnel, which is part of the Char Dham all-weather road project, through a water pipe so that the trapped labourers do not have difficulty breathing, Yaduvanshi said.
No breakthrough
The rescue operation has been going on for the past 12 hours but without any breakthrough so far.
However, those trapped inside have sent out signals that indicate they are safe, an official at the site said.
"We are removing the muck to measure how deep the point where they are trapped is. It does not seem too long. We hope to reach them soon. However, there are indications that they are safe as they appear to have released some water through an outlet," Rajesh Panwar, the Navyuga Construction Company project manager, said.
About 160 rescuers are trying to reach the trapped labourers with the help of drilling equipment and excavators, the District Emergency Operation Centre said. Some more equipment such as a vertical drilling machine are about to reach the site to assist the rescue efforts.
Rescue efforts
Border Roads Organisation and Indo-Tibetan Border Police teams led by Commanding Officer Naman Narula and Assistant Commandant Jadhav Vaibhav were roped in later to assist the rescue efforts, the officials said.
Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela, National Highways Authority of India Chief General Manager Vishal Gupta and NDRF Second-in-Command Ravishankar Badhani are on the spot to supervise the search and rescue operation.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke to Ruhela for an update on the situation and asked him to speed up the rescue operation.
Ruhela has cancelled the Diwali holiday of employees in the departments concerned.
"I am in touch with the officials on the spot and constantly monitoring the situation. I have asked them to expedite the rescue efforts. I pray everyone is rescued safely," Dhami said in a post on Facebook.
According to Yaduvanshi, the incident occurred between 6 and 7 am.
The collapsed portion of the tunnel is located about 200 metres from the entrance, he said, adding food items are also being sent in and the workers will be rescued soon.
On the circumstances that led to the collapse, he said the priority is to save the lives of those trapped inside.
"What led to the incident, fixing responsibility, etc will come later. Saving the lives of those trapped inside is our first priority," Yaduvanshi said.
The proposed tunnel, which is part of the Char Dham road project, will reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri by 26 kilometres.
(With agency inputs)
