After being stranded in the Silkyara-Dandalgaon Tunnel under construction in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, since November 12, 41 laborers were eventually freed. According to Harpal Singh, a rescue team member, the first break through was discovered at 7:05 p.m. Once the task of moving the pipe through the debris was finished, the workers’ safe evacuation was planned. Soldiers from the NDRF entered to save the workers. All 41 laborers were taken out one by one.
Significant details pertaining to the case:
- It won’t be possible to remove the workers from the tunnel right away. Within the tunnel itself is a makeshift hospital. Every employee will have a medical examination done here. This is where the employees will remain for a while. All of the laborers will be sent to Chinyalisaur, which is thirty to thirty-five kilometers distant, once the temperature returns to normal and the situation somewhat improves.
- Any worker whose health worsens will be evacuated to AIIMS Rishikesh right away. At the Chinyalisaur airfield, a Chinook helicopter has been stationed for this purpose.
- Since the early hours of November 12, these laborers were stranded in the tunnel. The workers and the rescue squad were separated by sixty meters. Rat miners put in 21 hours of labor and drilled 58 meters by hand. Two meters of manual drilling remained, and that was finished on Tuesday. In support of the worker rescue operation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and retired Union Minister General VK Singh are on the scene.
- The laborers exhaled a breath of relief as they emerged. His expression betrays his satisfaction at being granted a second chance at life. The laborers’ families were ecstatic as well. These laborers had been stuck in the tunnel since the early hours of November 12, also known as Diwali. After being kicked out, the family of a laborer declared that they would celebrate Diwali 17 days later.
- The evicted workers are being met by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. There is also General (Retd) VK Singh, the Union Minister of State. VK Singh garlands the workers as a sign of welcome. In the tunnel are the relatives of the workers who are being removed. Within the tunnel is a makeshift hospital where workers are receiving medical attention.
- Rate Snappers’ employee Naseem, a manual driller from Navyug, said to source, “Everyone who works there is in good health. With these, I snapped a selfie. He said that everyone chanted “Bharat Mata ki Jai” as soon as the final stone was taken out.
- The workers will be transported to Chinyalisaur, which is 30 to 35 kilometers distant, after spending some days at the tunnel’s makeshift hospital. There is now a 41-bed specialized hospital constructed. The Chinyalisad to Tunnel road has been designated as a Green Corridor. It’s roughly thirty to thirty-five kilometers to this hospital. This distance will take forty minutes to complete.
- Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has also dispatched a team to free the workers who are stuck in the Uttarkashi tunnel. He posted on social media to let us know that a team had been dispatched to Uttarkashi to assist our people.
- The group, under the direction of Rajdeep Dutta, Liaison Officer, Resident Commissioner Office, New Delhi, will assist in the workers’ safe evacuation from the Silkyara, Uttarkashi, tunnel and their return to their West Bengali homes.
- After speaking with Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Prime Minister Modi learned of the rescue effort. He emphasized that extra precautions should be taken to ensure the safety of those working outdoors in relief efforts in addition to the workers who are stuck within.