Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: About 40 laborers were trapped in the accident that took place in the early hours of Sunday in the tunnel under construction between Silkyara to Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway. Rescue teams are struggling to save the workers. Now a 900 mm diameter pipe will be inserted in the tunnel to evacuate the workers.

The rescue operation has entered the third day after the landslide in the under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi. The rescue operation is going on rapidly to rescue the workers trapped after the landslide in the under-construction tunnel. Now auger drilling machine has been ordered, this machine will install 900 mm steel pipe in the debris. The workers trapped in the tunnel will be able to come out safely through these 900-meter pipes. 

Pipes of 900 mm diameter have reached the spot. Along with this, an auger drilling machine has also reached the site. The platform for the auger machine has been prepared. The installation work of the auger drilling machine is going on at a fast pace. 

Let us tell you that the soil continuously falling from above in the tunnel under construction is creating a hindrance in the rescue operation. In such a situation, a pipe will now be inserted so that debris can be prevented. The machine will dig and lay the pipe. It is believed that this operation may take 24 hours.

After visiting the tunnel, Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Kumar Sinha said that the trapped laborers could be rescued by Tuesday night or Wednesday. The rescue team is continuously removing the debris. Now a tunnel will be prepared in the pile of debris and a pipe will be inserted. Through this, the workers will be evacuated.

Ranjit Kumar Sinha took stock of the landslide inside the tunnel. He said that all the workers who are safe inside the tunnel are being supplied food, water, and oxygen through the pipeline.

40 workers are inside the tunnel after a landslide in the under-construction Silkyara Tunnel since last Sunday. Dr. Sinha, the second Disaster Management Secretary of the incident, reached the spot and took stock of the situation. He said that in the place where the landslide occurred, there was soft rock due to which the landslide occurred.

The work of removing debris from JCB and other machines is going on. At the place where the workers are, there is enough oxygen for about five to six days. Apart from this, oxygen is also being sent through the pipeline.

Rescue workers said teams still had to clear more than 35 meters of debris to reach the 40 trapped workers. The rescue operation has been going on for more than 52 hours.

After finishing the 12-hour shift in the tunnel under construction on Yamunotri Highway, the workers were about to go to celebrate the Diwali holiday at around 8 am on Sunday morning, but two and a half hours earlier at 5:30, about 250 meters ahead of the Silkyara mouth of the tunnel, a 35-meter portion There was a landslide in.

There were 45 workers in the tunnel at that time. Seeing the debris falling slowly, five workers ran out but 40 got trapped in the tunnel. In fact, under the Chardham Road Project, the construction work of the 4.5 km tunnel under construction on Yamunotri Highway is now about 500 meters left, which the workers are constructing here in two shifts.

Last Saturday night the shift started at 8 o’clock in which 45 workers went to work. This shift was to end at 8 am on Sunday, the day of Big Diwali. After this, all the workers could celebrate the Diwali holiday with their colleagues, but before that, the tunnel broke about 230 meters inside the Silkyara mouth of the tunnel.

At first, the debris fell slowly which everyone took lightly. Then suddenly a huge amount of debris came and the tunnel was closed.

During this, five workers came out running and the remaining 40 workers got trapped inside the tunnel. Jharkhand resident laborer Hemant Nayak, who is engaged in the construction work of the tunnel, said that about 65 to 70 laborers work in a 12-hour shift.

A small number of laborers had gone to work on Saturday night, whose shift was to end at 8 a.m. on Sunday, but two and a half hours earlier, at around 5:30, an accident occurred in the tunnel.

Work was going on in the tunnel in two shifts day and night, in which the day shift was from 8 am to 8 pm and then the night shift was from 8 pm to 8 am. Workers from different companies work in shifts. These include Navayuga, Sri Sai Construction, Nav Durga etc.