Jammu: A portion of a mountain felt apart in the Makerkote area at the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway in Ramban near the site of the recuse operation on Friday, where a part of an under-construction tunnel collapsed late last night. A labourer was killed, while three others were rescued by Jammu & Kashmir police from the site at the national highway in the Union Territory's Ramban district.
A video shared by news agency ANI shows a portion of the mountain collapsing due to heavy winds in the area. Several policemen and rescue officials were present at the spot when the cliff felt down.
Watch The Video Below:
According to reports, at least nine workers are still trapped in the debris and attempts to rescue them are still underway. Exact reason of the collapse is yet to be ascertained.
The incident took place at around 10:15 pm on Thursday when the audit tunnel of T3 on the highway near Khooni Nallah collapsed, an official told news agency PTI adding that the tragedy led to trapping of around 12 workers of Sarla Company.
The rescue operations started at midnight and was going on in full swing with rock-breakers being used to reach out to those trapped. Reacting to the incident Union minister Jitendra Singh said that civil administration and police authorities are monitoring the situation.
"I am in constant touch with DC Mussrat Islam. Nearly 10 labour workers were trapped under the debris. Another two were rescued and hospitalised with injuries. Rescue operations are going on in full swing. Civil administration and police authorities are monitoring the situation," he said.
Meanwhile, Ramban Dy Commissioner & DDC, Massaratul Islam told ANI that the rescue operations were impacted due to wind storms.
"We were not expecting something like this. 2 machines got stuck. Due to wind storms, rescue op was impacted. 16-17 hours of rescue opeation was wasted. We will have to make a new assessment," Islam said.
Senior Police officials including Deputy Commissioner of Ramban Massaratul Islam and Senior Superintendent of Police Mohita Sharma are at the spot along with the deputy inspector general of police, supervising the rescue operation.