The first visuals of the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand since November 12 emerged on Tuesday after an endoscopic camera was sent in through the six-inch pipe which was drilled through the debris blocking the tunnel on Monday.
In a video released by the rescue agencies, the workers can be seen standing in a line and identifying themselves as rescue workers issue instructions to them. The trapped men are seen placing their ears on the edge of the pipe to hear what is being told by the rescuers.
“Aap theek ho? (Are you fine?)” a rescue team member asks, to which the workers reply to in the affirmative. The workers are then told to show themselves in the camera and smile. They are told that the rescue teams were working to reach them.
The camera is then pulled back up so that water can be released to clean the pipeline.
The rescue teams identified all the trapped workers from the visuals and also shared the same with their family members.
Fruits and other essentials were later sent through the pipe. According to sources, the pipe was temporarily blocked on Tuesday afternoon when the agencies tried to send cooked food. It was cleared in the evening.
The Hindu could not contact Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela for comments.
Meanwhile, horizontal drilling through the debris with an American Auger machine resumed on Tuesday. The operation was suspended on Friday after the machine encountered hard material. The rescue teams plan to insert a 900-mm pipe through the rubble to create an escape passage for the workers. The authorities are planning to place an 800-mm pipe inside the 900-mm one to provide more strength.
In Delhi, National Disaster Management Authority member Lieutenant-General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) said efforts were being made on five fronts to save the workers. He said that two teams of the NDRF were at the site to deal with any contingency.
He maintained that there was no scarcity of oxygen inside the tunnel. “The two-km section of the tunnel, with completed concrete work ensuring the safety of the workers, is the focus of the rescue efforts. In this secured portion of the tunnel, electricity and water supply are operational, and provisions, including food and medicines, are being delivered through a dedicated four-inch compressor pipeline,” he said.
Five agencies — ONGC, SJVNL, RVNL, NHIDCL, and THDCL— have been assigned specific responsibilities, working collaboratively with occasional task adjustments for operational efficiency. A five-point action plan has been chalked out for the rescue, including vertical drilling, excavating two escape channels/tunnels on both sides of the tunnel, and digging a tunnel from the other end, the Barkot side.
Anurag Jain, Secretary, Road Transport and Highway Ministry, said that vertical drilling was the “second-best option” for the rescue operation.
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The 4,532-m-long tunnel was being built by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. in partnership with Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd. at a cost of ₹853.79crore. It is part of the Char Dham all-weather road project which aims to reduce the journey between Uttarkashi and Yamunotri town by 26 km.
The tunnel collapsed following a landslide early on November 12, leaving the 41 workers trapped behind a huge mound of debris.
