Trapped workers rejoiced on first sight of NDRF team

Uttarkashi, November 28

The moment four NDRF personnel arrived on the other side of the rubble at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand to rescue 41 labourers trapped inside, their hopes of a safe evacuation were kindled, team commander Manmohan said on Tuesday.

“As soon as we waved at them and announced that an NDRF team is here for their safe evacuation and they have no reason to worry, there was a loud cheer among the group,” Manmohan, who was the first person to crawl through the passage to the other end of the rubble, said.

The NDRF team was there for nearly two hours, he added.

“We told them we are from the NDRF and have come to evacuate you to safety. The entire country stands with you,” Sachin Chaudhary from Rajasthan’s Alwar said.

“We crawled through the 800-mm diameter pipes to reach them. We had stretchers behind us. We had an oxygen cylinder and water bottles with us,” he said. Chaudhary said the NDRF team that went inside the under-construction road tunnel in Uttarkashi district, motivated the labourers who were trapped inside the structure for almost 17 days.