40 workers trapped as part of under-construction tunnel on Yamunotri collapses

A portion of an underconstruction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the BrahmakhalYamunotri National Highway collapsed early on Sunday trapping around 40 workers inside officials here saidPersonnel from the National Disaster Response Force NDRF State Disaster Response Force SDRF and police launched a search and rescue operation immediately after being informed of the accident Superintendent of Police Uttarkashi Arpan Yaduvanshi saidQuoting officials from National Highways amp Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited NHIDCL which is building the tunnel Yaduvanshi had initially put the number of labourers trapped in the tunnel at 36However the District Emergency Operation Centre later released a list of 40 labourers trapped inside They are from Bihar Jharkhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Odisha Uttarakhand and Himachal PradeshOxygen is being pumped into the collapsed section of the tunnel which is part of the Char Dham allweather road project through a water pipe so that the trapped labourers do not have difficulty breathing Yaduvanshi saidThe rescue operation has been going on for the past 12 hours but without any breakthrough so farHowever those trapped inside have sent out signals that indicate they are safe an official at the site saidWe are removing the muck to measure how deep the point where they are trapped is It does not seem too long We hope to reach them soon However there are indications that they are safe as they appear to have released some water through an outlet Rajesh Panwar the Navyuga Construction Company project manager saidAbout 160 rescuers are trying to reach the trapped labourers with the help of drilling equipment and excavators the District Emergency Operation Centre said Some more equipment such as a vertical drilling machine are about to reach the site to assist the rescue effortsBorder Roads Organisation and IndoTibetan Border Police teams led by Commanding Officer Naman Narula and Assistant Commandant Jadhav Vaibhav were roped in later to assist the rescue efforts the officials saidUttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela National Highways Authority of India Chief General Manager Vishal Gupta and NDRF SecondinCommand Ravishankar Badhani are on the spot to supervise the search and rescue operationChief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke to Ruhela for an update on the situation and asked him to speed up the rescue operationRuhela has cancelled the Diwali holiday of employees in the departments concernedI am in touch with the officials on the spot and constantly monitoring the situation I have asked them to expedite the rescue efforts I pray everyone is rescued safely Dhami said in a post on FacebookAccording to Yaduvanshi the incident occurred between 6 and 7 amThe collapsed portion of the tunnel is located about 200 metres from the entrance he said adding food items are also being sent in and the workers will be rescued soonOn the circumstances that led to the collapse he said the priority is to save the lives of those trapped insideWhat led to the incident fixing responsibility etc will come later Saving the lives of those trapped inside is our first priority Yaduvanshi saidThe proposed tunnel which is part of the Char Dham road project will reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri by 26 kilometres