New Delhi: All ten bodies have been retrieved from the rubble of an under-construction tunnel that collapsed in Ramban, Jammu & Kashmir, on Thursday. At least ten workers were trapped as a portion of a tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway collapsed in, prompting large-scale rescue efforts by police, the Army, and state and national disaster response teams.
Here are all the latest updates regarding Ramban Tunnel rescue operation:
- "All 10 bodies are recovered and families have been informed. Five of 10 bodies are from West Bengal. This operation is complete. Bodies shifted to hospital" said Ramban DC Mussarat Islam.
- A senior district police official told ANI earlier today that a body had been discovered under a boulder and that heavy machinery had been deployed to recover the body.
- "One more body was seen… machines have been (used) to remove the boulder… we are nearing the end of this rescue op," Mohita Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (Ramban), said.
- The first body, a Bengali labourer, was discovered on Friday.
- The audit tunnel of T3 on the highway near Khooni Nallah in Ramban district collapsed about 10.15 p.m. on Thursday.
- Rescue efforts began immediately but were temporarily halted yesterday owing to'shooting stones,' which are huge and tiny boulders and debris that come racing down a slope as a result of landslides or other severe weather conditions.
- The debris was caused by a nearby landslide - a section of a mountain in the Makerkote region crumbled, forcing a short halt in rescue operations.
- In a video shared by news agency ANI, the collapse was seen on camera.
- According to Islam, the occurrence was unanticipated and impacted up to 17 hours of rescue operations. Two large machinery were also imprisoned.
- Four of the trapped labourers are from Bengal: Jadav Roy (23), Gautam Roy (22), Sudhir Roy (31), Dipak Roy (33) and Parimal Roy (38); two are from J&K: Muzaffar (38) and Israt (30), and one is from Assam: Shiva Chouhan (26) Nepalese Nawaraj Chowdhury (26) and Kushi Ram (25)
- Manoj Sinha, the lieutenant governor of J&K, is directing activities from a control room, according to PTI.
(With Agencies Inputs)