Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse:  After a wait of over 10 days, the first visuals of the workers trapped behind the debris in the Silkyara tunnel was captured. This happened hours after a camera was sent through the alternative six-inch lifeline pipe that reached the Silkyara tunnel, where 41 labourers have been trapped from November 12. The visuals were captured using an endoscopic camera sent in through the alternative 6-inch food pipeline. In the video, the workers, wearing yellow and white helmets, are seen receiving food items sent to them through the pipeline and talking to each other.

The trapped workers also got their first meal of khichdi filled in a cylindrical bottle for their consumption. The rescue team has started the work of laying the pipeline inside the Silkyara Tunnel. The team also tried to make contact with the trapped workers through a walkie-talkie. 

Hemant, the cook who prepared the Khichdi for the trapped labourers, said that this was the first time a hot meal was being sent to the workers.
"This food will be sent inside the tunnel. This is the first time a hot meal is being sent. We are sending Khichdi. We are only preparing the food which we have been recommended," he said.

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Earlier in the day, in a breakthrough, a six-inch pipe reached the 2 km-built tunnel portion of the collapsed structure where labourers are trapped. Rescue operation in-charge Colonel Deepak Patil said that through this alternative lifeline, we can send food, mobiles, and chargers inside the tunnel.

On what food items will be sent to trapped labourers, he said that keeping in mind the condition of the labourers, a list has been prepared with the help of doctors on available food options.

"We are bringing plastic cylindrical bottles with wide mouths so that we can send bananas, apples, Khichdi, and Daliya," he added.

Earlier in the day, the Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), Anshu Manish Khulko, said there was an atmosphere of joy among the trapped labourers after they came to know about the breakthrough. The NHIDCL Director said the rescuers will now go with full force to evacuate the labourers.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing efforts to rescue the workers trapped in the Uttarkashi tunnel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that they are working on a war footing to evacuate all the workers safely.

"As part of the ongoing rescue operation to rescue workers trapped inside the tunnel under construction in Silkyara, Uttarkashi, a 6-inch-diameter pipeline has been successfully laid across the debris. Now through this, food items, medicines and other goods will be easily sent to the workers as per the requirement." CM Dhami posted on X (formerly Twitter).

He further said that the central agencies, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and state administration teams engaged in rescue operations are working tirelessly. "We are working on a war footing to evacuate all the workers safely," Uttarakhand CM said.

On November 12, it was reported that a collapse occurred in an under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot due to a muck falling in the 60-meter stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel, trapping 41 labourers. 

Notably, two robotics machines of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) - weighing 20 kg and 50 kg- have arrived at the site and rescue operation is still going on.

(With Agency Inputs)


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