Oxygen, food, water supplied: Ops to save 40 workers trapped in Uttarkashi tunnel

On a day when the country was celebrating Diwali and there was a festive cheer in the air, tragedy struck workers at the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand on Sunday (12 November). Forty workers are trapped after a portion of the tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway collapsed early on Sunday. Shortly after the collapse, a multi-agency rescue operation is being carried out to retrieve the workers from inside the collapsed tunnel. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that he had been briefed about the operation and he was in contact with the officials since he was first informed of the tragedy. “National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) are at the spot. We pray to god for the safe return of everybody.” We take a closer look at what happened to cause the tunnel to collapse and what officials are doing to retrieve the trapped workers. Disaster strikes under-construction tunnel In the wee hours of Sunday, around 4 am, a part of the four-kilometre-long Uttarkashi tunnel collapsed, trapping a team of construction workers. According to officials, a 150-metre portion of the structure collapsed in the Silkyara Tunnel owing to a landslide in the region. Officials said that they believe that a landslide that occurred at a distance of 200 metres from the entrance of the tunnel caused the structure to collapse, sealing in the workers, who were at the time 2,500 metres inside. The tunnel, when constructed will connect Silkyara to Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi and is being built under the Char Dham Road Project. Constructed by Navayuga Engineering Company under the supervision of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, it aims to reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri Dham by 26 kilometres, and is expected to be completed by next February. [caption id=“attachment_13381302” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Over 160 officials and two JCBs have been pressed into action to save the trapped workers from the Uttarkashi tunnel. PTI[/caption] Initially, officials 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 (4), Jharkhand (15), Uttar Pradesh (8), West Bengal (3), Odisha (5), Uttarakhand (2) and Himachal Pradesh (1) and Assam (2). A race to rescue Shortly after the collapse, Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Arpan Yaduvanshi arrived at the spot and launched relief operations. Apart from the NDRF and SDRF, officials from the Fire Brigade and employees of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) are participating in the rescue efforts. According to some reports, 160 officials from different departments are a part of the rescue efforts and furthermore, leaves of all officials have been cancelled and they were asked to report to headquarters.

VIDEO | Rescue operations continue in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand where a portion of an under-construction tunnel collapsed yesterday, trapping several people inside.#Uttkarshitunnelcollapse pic.twitter.com/gxc2ejuPM3

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 13, 2023

As operations enter Day 2 of the incident, photographs of the area show huge piles of concrete blocking the wide tunnel, with twisted metal bars on its broken roof poking down in front of the rubble. **Also read: From Thai cave to Afghan well: When rescue efforts to save children captivated the world** Officials say that fortunately no one is severely injured and that communication has been established with those trapped inside. Ranveer Singh Chauhan, a member of the Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD) told Hindustan Times, “Work is underway at a great speed. Everyone is working very hard. We were saddened yesterday because we weren’t able to communicate with those trapped. But then we were able to communicate with them.” On Monday morning, the trapped workers reportedly communicated with the rescue teams and asked for food and water to be provided to them inside.

VIDEO | Uttarkashi tunnel collapse: "We have been able to communicate with the 40 people who are trapped inside the tunnel. They have informed us that all of them are safe," says an official.#Uttkarshitunnelcollapse pic.twitter.com/TAqx1bYUQD

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 13, 2023

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As of now, oxygen is being pumped into the collapsed section of the tunnel through a water pipe so that the trapped labourers don’t suffer from any breathing difficulties. District Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal was quoted as telling The Indian Express that the workers weren’t crammed into a small space and had some leg room. “The good thing is that the labourers are not crammed in, and have a buffer of around 400 metres to walk and breathe. They have enough oxygen to easily survive for over eight to 10 hours, and that should give us enough time to rescue them,” he said. At the tunnel site on Monday morning, two JCBs could be seen along with a Poclain machine removing the debris and trying to create an escape passage for the workers. Moreover, a compressor drill machine has also been sent. The Chinyalisaur helipad has also been activated for relief operations. In addition to this, a health team and four ambulances have been deployed. News agency PTI has reported that Border Roads Organisation and Indo-Tibetan Border Police teams led by Commanding Officer Naman Narula and Assistant Commandant Jadhav Vaibhav have also been roped in later to assist the rescue efforts. [caption id=“attachment_13381322” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The tunnel, when constructed will connect Silkyara to Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi and is being built under the Char Dham Road Project. PTI[/caption] Reigniting older memories Notably, this is not the first time such an incident has happened in the country, or for that fact in Uttarakhand itself. In February 2021, around 25-30 workers were trapped inside the Tapovan Tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli when part of a glacier broke off, unleashing flash floods. Prior to this, perhaps the most popular cave rescue was that in Thailand in 2018. A group of 12 boys aged between 11 and 16 and their football coach were trapped inside the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand on 23 June after it was flooded. From Elon Musk to Kirloskar in India, the world quite literally came together to search for the boys and after 18 days all of them were rescued after divers John Volanthen and Richard Stanton found the group alive on an elevated rock about 4 kilometres from the cave mouth. With inputs from agencies