Uttarkashi: The rescue operation to save 40 trapped workers continues between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway. Efforts to save workers trapped in under-construction tunnel enters Day 8 since it collapsed in the early morning hours of November 12.
The team is trying to insert 6-inch diameter pipe instead the 4-inch diameter through which the supply of food and supplements will be maintained. The rescue operations were halted on Saturday morning after a sound of cloud cracking was heard. Later, a top official from the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) took stock of the relief operations at the under-construction Silkyara Tunnel located at the Uttarkashi-Yamnotri road.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will today conduct an on-site inspection of the ongoing relief and rescue work in the Silkyara Tunnel located on the Uttarkashi-Yamnotri road. Along with the Chief Minister, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari will also arrive to take stock of the relief and rescue work.
The government has appointed senior IAS Dr. Neeraj Khairwal as the nodal officer for coordination with the central institutions working in the state. Due to the delay in taking out the workers trapped in the tunnel, the patience of their relatives and other workers is now breaking.
Dozens of workers have been trapped in a Uttarakhand tunnel for nearly 150 hours with a giant drill being deployed to save them. The rescue operations stopped yesterday evening after hearing a sudden “cracking sound” and the drilling machine developed a snag.
Officials have said that a second heavy drill is to be airlifted to the accident site and operations are expected to resume by 10 am.
Officials said that all 40 workers are safe and are being supplied food and water through steel pipes that have been drilled into the opening.
Families of the trapped workers have arrived at the accident site and are losing hope. Brother of one of the workers, who has come from Haridwar, said that the workers need to be rescued quickly before their health deteriorates.
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