Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue: The rescue operation to evacuate 41 labourers from a collapsed Uttarakhand tunnel ended on Tuesday after 17 days of rigorous efforts. Anil Bediya, one of the 41 labourers who were rescued said that he survived the ordeal by eating 'muri' (puffed rice) and licking water dripping from rocks. Bediya said that after the incident took place the workers trapped inside lost all hope and thought that they will be burried inside.
Speaking to PTI over phone call from Uttarakhand on Wednesday, Bediya said, "Loud shrieks punctuated the air...We all thought we would be buried inside the tunnel and had lost all hope during the first couple of days". Bediya is now recuperating at a Uttarakhand hospital. "It was a nightmarish ordeal...we licked water dripping from rocks to quench our thirst and survived on muri for the first 10 days," he said.
Bediya hails from Khirabeda, a village on the outskirts of Jharkhand's Ranchi which saw a total of 13 people going to Uttarkashi on November 1 in search of greener pastures.
Luckily, only three of the 13 from Khirabeda were inside the tunnel when the disaster struck. Fifteen of the 41 workers hail from Jharkahnd's Ranchi, Giridih, Khunti and West Singhbhum, where people have erupted in joy after the trapped workers were rescued on Tuesday evening.
"Our first hope of survival kindled when the authorities established contact with us after nearly 70 hours," Bediya recounted, as quoted by PTI. According to him, two of their supervisors asked them to drink water dripping through the rocks. "We had no other option but to relieve ourselves inside the tunnel. Finally, when we heard voices of people communicating with us from outside, a firm belief and hope of survival replaced our desperation," Bediya said, as quoted by PTI.
After the first 10 days of gruelling anxiety, supplies, including fruits like bananas, apples and oranges, besides hot meals like rice, dal and chapatis became regular along with water bottles, he said. "Huddled together, we used to pray desperately for early rescue ...finally God heard us," he said.
Bediya's anxiety-stricken mother had not cooked food for the last two weeks, and the family survived on whatever their neighbours provided them with, a resident of the village said. The rescue operation began on November 12 after a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed following a landslide, cutting off the exit for the workers inside.