On Diwali, when the entire country was bathed in lights, 41 laborers got trapped in a dark tunnel. These laborers were building a new route for Char Dham. A part of Silkyara-Dandalgaon Tunnel of Uttarkashi suddenly collapsed and all the workers were cut off from the outside world.
Rescue agencies started efforts to save the workers. When one plan failed, work started on another. Sometimes attempts were made to rescue the workers by digging from the mouth of the tunnel and sometimes from the top of the mountain. After 17 days, about 399 hours, from 5.30 am on 12th November to 8.35 pm on 28th November, the first laborer was taken out at 7.50 pm. Everyone was taken out after 45 minutes at 8.35 pm. Everyone was sent to the hospital by ambulance.
Rescue team member Harpal Singh said that the first break through was found at 7.05 pm. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami spoke to the workers who were thrown out. Union Minister VK Singh was also with him.
CM Dhami said- All the laborers will be given assistance of Rs 1 lakh each by the Uttarakhand government tomorrow. They will also be given one month paid leave, so that they can meet their families. All the workers are healthy.
Naseem, a manual driller of rate snappers company Navyug, said – All the workers are healthy. I took a selfie with him. He told that when the last stone was removed, all the workers cheered.
PM Modi expressed happiness by tweeting about green corridor from tunnel to hospital.
After the rescue, the workers were taken to Chinyalisaur, 30-35 KM away. A 41-bed special hospital has been built there. The road from the tunnel to Chinyalisad was declared a green corridor, so that the ambulance carrying the workers to the hospital after the rescue does not get stuck in traffic. It is a distance of about 30 to 35 kilometers. It was fixed in about 40 minutes. 12 meters of excavation done in 21 hours
Earlier, rat miners engaged in horizontal drilling from the Silkyara side, completed the excavation and came out of the pipe at 1.20 pm on the 17th day of the accident. He did 12 meters of manual drilling in about 21 hours. On November 24, the auger machine broke just 12 meters from the workers’ location. Due to which the rescue had to be stopped.
After this the army and rat miners were called for the remaining drilling. At 11 am on Tuesday morning, happiness was visible on the faces of the family members of the workers when the officers asked them to keep their clothes and bags ready. Good news is coming soon.
Rat miners completed 12 meter drilling in 21 hours, how rat miners worked in Uttarkashi Tunnel
Rat miners entered the 800mm pipe and did the drilling. They would go inside the pipe one by one, and then dig with a small shovel with the help of their hands. Around 2.5 quintals of debris would come out from the trolley at a time. Inside the pipe, all of them had an oxygen mask for protection, special glasses for eye protection and a blower for air. What is Rat Hole Mining?
Rat means rat, hole means hole and mining means digging. The meaning is clear: to enter a hole and dig like a rat. In this, digging is started from the side of the mountain with a thin hole and after making a pole, it is slowly drilled with a small hand drilling machine and the debris is taken out by hand.
The process called rat hole mining has been commonly used in coal mining. Rat hole mining is rampant in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and North East, but rat hole mining is a very dangerous work, hence it has been banned many times.
Tunnel experts said – the mountain taught us to be humble
International tunnel expert Arnold Dix said while talking to Dainik Bhaskar on Tuesday – The mountain has told us one thing, that is to remain humble. 41 men, home safe and then you report the most extraordinary thing. Dix pointed towards the success of the operation.
PM Modi took information about the rescue operation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami and took updates on the rescue operation. He said that along with the safety of the workers trapped inside, special care should also be taken for the safety of the people engaged in relief work outside. He said that the families of the workers trapped inside should not face any kind of problem. What has happened so far?
27 November: 13.9 meter long parts of the stuck auger machine were taken out from Silkyara side at 3 am. By late evening the head of the auger machine was also taken out from the debris. After this the rat miners started drilling manually. By 10 pm the pipe was also pushed forward by 0.9 meters. Also 36 meters of vertical drilling was done.
November 26: Vertical drilling started from the mountain top to rescue 41 laborers trapped in the Silkyara Tunnel of Uttarkashi. Excavation took place up to 20 meters till 11 pm. Under vertical drilling, a path is being made by making a big hole in the mountain from top to bottom. Officials said- If there is no hindrance, we will reach the workers in 100 hours i.e. 4 days.
November 25: Rescue work halted on Friday due to breakage of auger machine and remained halted on Saturday also. International tunneling expert Arnold Dix has said that now drilling will not be done with the auger, nor will any other machine be called.
Help of other options will be taken to evacuate the workers. Under Plan B, preparations are being made for vertical drilling from above the tunnel. NDMA says that about 86 meters of digging will have to be done to reach the workers.
November 24: When drilling work started in the morning, steel pipes came in the way of the auger machineVishal of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, trapped in Uttarkashi Tunnel, has also come out with 41 laborers. With the good news on Tuesday, there is a wave of happiness in Vishal’s family. Sweets are being distributed at home and crackers are being burst. Now bhajan-kirtan is going onVishal of Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, trapped in Uttarkashi Tunnel, has also come out with 41 laborers. With the good news on Tuesday, there is a wave of happiness in Vishal’s family. Sweets are being distributed at home and crackers are being burst. Now bhajan-kirtan is going on.
