Rescue operation on at the site. PTI
New Delhi, November 14
Government agencies engaged in the rescue efforts at the site of the tunnel collapse on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway on Tuesday said all 40 trapped workers were safe and oxygen was being relayed into the tunnel with the help of compressors.
Food packets are also being delivered inside the collapsed tunnel, and the rescue agencies are talking to the workers on walkie-talkie.
"All workers are safe,' an Uttarakhand government statement said.
It added that mild steel piper and the auger machines arrived at the rescue site early on Tuesday and work was on at a war footing to remove the debris from inside the tunnel.
The statement was issued after Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami on Tuesday reviewed rescue efforts at the Silkyara tunnel on the Uttarkashi-Yamunotri road.
“Tunnel walls are also being chiselled and efforts are being made to create an escape passage for the workers but the rubble falling from the upper parts of the tunnel is making the rescue work difficult.
The government said experts had suggested that 90 cm MS steel pipes be installed through the rubble to rescue the trapped workers and work is under way to get the required quantities of pipes at the site.
Five experts from the irrigation department were at the site to monitor the plan.
The agencies said all drilling machines needed in the rescue efforts were already at the site of the tunnel and large quantities of heavy equipment were at work.
About 160 rescue personnel are engaged in the task and a temporary helipad has been erected 5 km from the disaster site to transport relief and rescue materials on priority.
An expert team has also been formed to probe the causes of the landslide that led to the tunnel collapse on November 12.
The under-construction tunnel is located on the route of the Centre's ambitious Char Dham all-weather highway project.
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