Uttarakhand Tunnel Crash News Live Updates: CM Pushkar Singh Dhami felicitates families of workers rescued from Silkyara tunnel

Even as rescuers mounted a massive operation outside to evacuate those trapped within the Silkyara tunnel, a remarkable, as yet untold story, was unfolding inside. Unknown to many, the 41 workers, often with little food, disturbed sleep and bouts of anxiety, were actively contributing to rescue efforts to get them out. Officials on duty told TOI on Tuesday that these trapped workers played a pivotal role in the operation by assisting in the deployment of oxygen pipes and creating safety points amid the drilling work from three different directions. Equipped with the necessary tools, they demonstrated determination and discipline, ensuring all tasks assigned to them by the rescue teams were accomplished on time.

On Sunday, the 15th day that the 41 workers spent trapped, hopes were fast diminishing amidst consecutive setbacks caused by the auger machine's failure to drill beyond 45 metres. It was then that a decision was taken, to deploy ‘rat-hole’ miners, which turned out to be a game-changer. The team, known for burrowing through narrow stretches, excavated the final 12 meters and reached the trapped men in less than 24 hours, a feat described by many experts as ‘extraordinary.’ The miners, who work for a Delhi-based private compa ny ‘Rockwell’, undertook the operation under the supervision of the Indian Army. Team leader Wakeel Hasan told TOI they had “past experience of excavating small tunnels for laying long sewer and water pipe lines but nothing of the scale encountered during the tunnel rescue”.

Fittingly, the first worker to be pulled out of the Silkyara tunnel in an operation that faced daunting odds was named Vijay. “It’s a big relief. I am very happy,” said Vijay Horo from Gumad village in Khunti district of Jharkhand, stepping out in the open after 17 days and smiling for the waiting cameras. Sharing his ordeal with TOI, Satya Dev, one of the trapped men from UP’s Shravasti district who was on his way to a community health centre for a checkup with his brother, said, “Spending days and nights in claustrophobic conditions was very challenging. I have never experienced anything like this... there was fear and anxiety but being in constant touch with the outside world kept me going.” Later, PM Modi spoke to the rescued men over phone and enquired about their well-being, officials said.

The multi-agency operation to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi finally succeeded — after days of ups and downs, waves of hope and despair — on Tuesday evening when all of them were safely brought out. The massive effort, unprecedented in its sheer magnitude and ambition, ended an ordeal that lasted 17 long days and had the entire government machinery, including the PMO, putting its might behind the evacuation exercise.At 7.28pm, when the first trapped worker, Vijay Horo, was wheeled out on a stretcher by NDRF personnel, emotions ran high and cheers broke out amongst the rescue personnel, who had quite literally moved mountains to get the men out. Earlier, at 7.12pm, a team of doctors and NDRF men had first entered the tunnel as part of a pre-decided SOP. After the final leg of the mission, which lasted just over an hour, saw the harried but stoic workers walking out, they were welcomed with garlands by Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union minister of state for road transport and highways Gen VK Singh (retd).

Timeline of the various challenges faced by the evacuation teams and the evolving strategies deployed to free the trapped workers since the tunnel collapse at dawn on Diwali.