One of three rescue teams works in a tunnel where 40 people were trapped after a partial collapse at a construction site in northern India on October 12, 2023. — Photo: Uttarakhand Disaster Response Forces via Portal Rescue teams work in a tunnel where 40 people were trapped after a partial collapse at a construction site in northern India on October 12, 2023. Photo: Uttarakhand Disaster Response Forces via Portal
After warnings about the risk of collapse were ignored, a mega Indian government project to connect Hindu temples through a tunnel in the Himalayas and create a pilgrimage route ended in tragedy.
On Sunday (12), During construction, part of the tunnel collapsed and 40 workers were trapped. They are kept alive by some species Oxygen pump that rescue teams managed to send under the rubble.
The accident occurred in the state of Uttarakhand in northern India crossed by the Himalayan mountains.
2 of 3 See what the tunnel for highway construction under the Himalayas looks like Photo: Arte g1 See what the tunnel for highway construction under the Himalayas looks like Photo: Arte g1
40 workers are trapped in India after the partial collapse of the Himalayan tunnel
The tunnel is only a section about 5 kilometers long controversial highway that the government is building to create a pilgrimage route Hindus in the region.
- The highway is called Char Dham one of the most ambitious projects of the Prime Minister’s Government of the country, Narendra Modi.
- The aim is connect four places of pilgrimage over 889 km of road.
- Work on the tunnel section began in 2018 and is scheduled to be completed by July 2022However, according to a government statement, they were postponed to May 2024.
- One of the reasons that attracted attention in the country was that Cost of the work: $1.5 billion (around R$7.3 billion).
- When work began, the project came under criticism from environmental experts Some work was paused after hundreds of homes along the highway were damaged.
- Then a 2020 report by India’s Supreme Court concluded that the project’s impacts were not properly assessed before construction began.
- The court finally approved the highway in 2021, but warned that the government should address the issues raised by an independent commission appointed by the Supreme Court. However, in 2022, the director of this commission claimed this The government did not implement its recommendations.
In addition to the region being prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods, local geologists recorded “land subsidence which they attributed to very rapid construction in the Himalayan Mountains” days before the incident.
Tunnel collapses in India, trapping 40 people
As the country demands explanations from the prime minister about the irregularities, authorities are racing against time to find a solution and rescue the trapped workers after an initial phase of excavationRescue teams discovered that there was much more wreckage along the way than they had thought.
“This is a very challenging task because while we are removing the debris, more debris is falling from the ceiling,” said Mohsen Shahidi, director of the Indian National Disaster Response Force.
Uttarakhand disaster management coordinator Devendra Singh Patwal said rescuers had built one Platform to insert a pipe through which they will try to remove workers.
Patwal also stated that drilling work to insert this pipe into the mountain has already started but it is being done with caution. to prevent further collapses. The coordinator also said he didn’t know how long it would take for his team to remove the workers.
3 of 3 A member of a team rescuing 40 workers trapped in a tunnel after a partial collapse in northern India wears part of a drill on October 12, 2023. Photo: Uttarakhand Disaster Response Forces via Portal Team member rescuers for 40 workers trapped in a tunnel after a partial collapse in northern India transport part of a drilling machine, October 12, 2023. Photo: Uttarakhand Disaster Response Forces via Portal