Light at the end of the tunnel: First batch of trapped workers in Silkyara brought out
Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand): Fifteen workers among the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand since November 12, have been successfully rescued.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the workers who have been rescued along with Union Minister of State General (Retd) VK Singh.
Around 8 pm, an ambulance with the worker sitting in the vehicle left the mouth of the tunnel and was headed to a community health centre.
An official said rescue workers had broken through the last stretch of the rubble at about 7 pm.
NDRF and SDRF men entered the steel chute to reach the trapped workers and were bringing them out on wheeled-stretchers one by one, said a rescuer.
"Five workers among the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand since November 12 have been successfully rescued. Currently, all the labourers are in the safety tunnel inside the Silkyara tunnel," news agency ANI's tweet read. Another tweet from the agency said ambulances have left from the tunnel site. It also had the visuals of the same.
After 17 days of the marathon operation, the first batch of 41 workers has been evacuated from the Silkyara tunnel and efforts to bring out the remaining trapped workers are underway.
As the rescue operations enter the final stage, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the work of pipe pushing inside the Silkyara tunnel where the efforts to bring out 41 trapped workers has been done across the debris.
"There has been a great success in the ongoing rescue operation in the Silkyara Tunnel, the work of pipe pushing has been done across the debris. Now preparations have been started to evacuate the workers safely," Uttarakhand CM posted on X (formerly Twitter).
As the pipe has reached the place where the workers are trapped, the lights are being installed inside the pipeline so that the workers do not face any problems in the rescue operation. The rescue operation of workers may start soon.
Meanwhile, NDRF and SDRF personnel enter inside the tunnel for rescue, the operation to rescue the workers is about to start in a few minutes.
A worker involved in the rescue operation says, "The situation is good. Four to five people from NDRF have gone inside. The process of rescuing the workers has already begun. We are taking stretchers inside to bring the trapped workers outside..."
"The rescue work has been completed and the trapped workers will start coming out in the next 15-20 minutes. NDRF teams will pull out the workers now. It will take around half an hour to rescue all the 41 trapped workers. There are no hurdles now," a worker involved in the rescue operation.
Earlier today, Uttarakhand CM and other officials reached the Silkyara tunnel rescue site.
A portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12, the debris falling in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel, trapping 41 labourers inside the under-construction structure.
With ANI, PTI inputs