All 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand were brought out safely by the rescue personnel on November 28, thereby bringing an end to the rescue operation that lasted for nearly 20 days, Indian media reported.

The workers were trapped inside since November 12, after a portion of the tunnel caved in.

As the rescue operations entered the final stage, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the work of pipe pushing inside the Silkyara tunnel where the efforts to bring out 41 trapped workers has been done across the debris.

“There has been a great success in the ongoing rescue operation in the Silkyara Tunnel, the work of pipe pushing has been done across the debris. Now preparations have been started to evacuate the workers safely,” Uttarakhand CM posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Before the first set of workers were brought out, National Disaster Management Authority Member, Lt General (Rtd) Syed Ata Hasnain said that the entire operation to evacuate workers from the Silkyara tunnel will take 3-4 hours adding that they are not in a “hurry.”

Addressing a press briefing in New Delhi, Hasnain said, “It is estimated that it will take 3-5 minutes to evacuate each of the 41 persons. The entire evacuation is expected to take 3-4 hours from the Silkyara tunnel after the breakthrough is achieved.”

He further said that three teams of NDRF will go inside the tunnel to organise the evacuation. SDRF will provide support and Paramedics will also go inside the tunnel at the time of evacuation.

“All safety precautions will be implemented. No premature announcements are to be made, it will be against all principles. We also have to take care of the safety and security of the people who are rescuing the workers...We are not in any hurry,” he added.

Source - Livemint 
--Agencies