Trapped Workers In Uttarakhand Tunnel Talk To Family Members, PM Modi Reviews Progress — Top Points

Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: The trapped labourers communicated with their family members on Tuesday while PM Narendra Modi took stock of the progress.

The under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway ( Image Source :PTI )

The trapped workers inside Uttarakhand’s Silkyara tunnel on Tuesday communicated with their family members through a pipeline inserted into the tunnel as the efforts to rescue them entered the tenth day. On Tuesday, the first visuals emerged of the trapped workers as the rescue team established contact with them. The endoscopic flexi camera reached the trapped workers in an effort to safely bring out the 41 labourers. 

On November 12, the labourers were trapped after a portion of the under-constructed tunnel, part of the ambitious Char Dham all-weather road project of the central government, collapsed about 30 km from the district headquarters of Uttarkashi. 

• As the connection was established, the family members of the labourers talked to them enquiring about their well-being. 

#WATCH | Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue | Family members of the workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel interact with them through the pipeline inserted inside the tunnel.

(Video Source: Family member of the trapped worker) pic.twitter.com/nKoEQGiIfT

— ANI (@ANI) November 21, 2023

• "I talked to him this morning,” Sunita Hembrum, whose brother-in-law Pradeep Kisku is among the trapped labourers, told PTI. She has come to Silkyara from Banka in Bihar. She said that oranges have been supplied to them throug the new food pipe and that efforts are underway to send khichdi to them. 
  
  
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and enquired about the rescue operation. 
  
  
• In a post on X, Dhami said he told Modi that the workers were safe and the prime minister underlined that the rescue mission is the topmost priority. Dhami said that the PM was informed about the successful insertion of a 6-inch pipeline through the rubble which will be used for providing food in larger quantities and other necessary items to the workers.
  
  
• The government has also issued an advisory for private news channels urging them to refrain from sensationalising the rescue operation and asked them to be sensitive in their reporting. 
  
  
• Lt General Syed Ata Hasnain of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Lt General Hasnain said that the rescue efforts are focusing on horizontal drilling using an auger machine.

  In a media briefing, Hasnain stated, "A 4-inch pipe was available, so we had a lifeline with the people inside through which survival rations, medicine, and other essentials were pushed through a compressor into the space where these workers are", as quoted by news agency ANI.

• About the conditions inside the tunnel, Lt General Hasnain said, "There is sufficient water, oxygen, power, and light inside the tunnel." Families of some trapped workers have been transported to the site, and communication with the workers has been established through the existing four-inch pipe, he mentioned, as per ANI. More On It: Focus On Horizontal Drilling, There's Sufficient Water, Oxygen, Power Inside Uttarkashi Tunnel: Official
  
  
• National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) director Anshu Manish Khalkho informed that the auger machine is not able to reach its speed of 5 metre per hour "due to many difficulties", PTI reported.