Uttarkashi. Efforts are on to rescue 40 laborers trapped in the tunnel being built in Silkyara in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand after a part of it collapsed on Sunday. These workers are trapped in the tunnel since yesterday. At present it is being told that all the workers are fine. Contact with workers is maintained through walkie-talkies. About 50 meters of the tunnel had collapsed. Due to which the laborers working inside got trapped. Since then, relief and rescue work is going on there on a large scale. According to Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran, where part of the tunnel has collapsed, a cavity has formed. Debris from above is continuously falling on this empty space. According to the newspaper, a short creating machine was used to prevent debris from falling into the cavity, but it failed. After this, the short creating machine was brought out late on Sunday night.
Right now it is being told that the work of removing the debris fallen in the cavity is going on. The workers can be taken out of the tunnel only after removing the debris. Also, it is important to stop the debris falling into the cavity from above. For this also, various other measures are being tried. The control room in Silkyara has informed that talks are being held continuously with the workers trapped in the tunnel. He had asked for food. Which has been sent through pipeline. Water was sent to the tunnel through this pipeline, oxygen is also being sent through it. The relief and rescue team is said to be about 50 meters away from the workers trapped in the tunnel. It is expected that success will be achieved in saving the workers by late evening today. This tunnel is part of the all-weather Chardham route and suddenly a part of it collapsed late Saturday night. Tunnel making work goes on day and night. In such a situation, the workers who had gone there at that time got trapped.
The area where construction is going on in Uttarakhand. The mountains are raw there. That is, mountains have been formed here by mixing stones and soil. Due to this, many landslides keep happening. Roads are being built from this area for all-weather traffic and such tunnels are being constructed on these roads by cutting the mountains. In such a situation, there is a strong possibility of landslides while cutting a mountain with tunnel boring machines. A similar landslide is said to have occurred during the construction of this tunnel in Uttarkashi. There is a possibility of getting official information regarding this yet. Only after this will it be known what caused the accident in the tunnel.