“All forty workers trapped in the tunnel are alive,” National Disaster Response Force Commander-in-Chief Karamveer Singh Bhandari said in a statement on Monday (Nov 13). “We sent them water and food,” he added.
The collapse occurred early Sunday morning in the state of Uttarakhand, south of the Himalayas, during a relief operation.
“About 200 meters of the tunnel collapsed,” Durgesh Rathodi, an emergency services official who visited the site, told Agence France-Presse. “Forty or forty-one workers are stuck inside. The debris supplies oxygen, but more debris falls as rescuers try to clear the obstacle. »
The 4.5-kilometer-long Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel is being constructed to facilitate connectivity between two important Hindu shrines, Yamunotri Temple and Uttarkashi Temple. Photos released by rescue teams showed huge concrete blocks blocking the tunnel and twisted metal rods on the roof sticking out of the rubble.
“Pray to God that the workers stuck in the tunnel come out safely,” wrote Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. on X (formerly Twitter). Accidents on large infrastructure construction sites are common in India.
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