Silkyara tunnel rescue: "Close" but not quite there; another few hours to bear

Rescue workers started this morning already close to breaking through the 60-metre stretch of rubble in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand, to reach the 41 workers trapped for the last 16 days.

At the disaster site, state government's information department chief Bansi Dhar Tiwari told reporters a little after 1.30 pm that the drilling was “over”.

Less than an hour later, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the process of laying the escape pipe into the drilled passage was complete. “Soon all brother workers will be brought out,” he posted on social media.

Earlier, NHIDCL managing director Mahmood Ahmed did not immediately confirm that the drilling work was over. He told reporters that the last section of the pipe was being pushed through.

But at his 4 pm media briefing in Delhi, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata said the rescue workers were near a breakthrough, “but not quite there”.

He said at the time that the rat-hole mining experts, manually drilling through the last stretch, had reached the 58-metre point, and there were about 2 more metres to go.

But at the disaster site, the mood was upbeat over the imminent end of the multi-agency rescue operation.

An eight-bed makeshift health centre has been set up inside the tunnel to provide immediate medical care to the workers after their evacuation.

Ambulances are lined up near the mouth of the tunnel to rush away the rescued workers to the community health centre (about 30 kilometres distant), after an initial checkup at the site for first aid and emergency treatment.

A stretch of dirt road was relaid to make the passage of ambulances easier. Stretchers were taken inside the mouth of the tunnel, and kept ready.

As information about the 'breakthrough' emerged at the site, some people outside chanted “Jai Shri Ram”.

Earlier, L&T team lead Chris Cooper predicted an early end to the workers’ ordeal. “It is likely that they will be out before 5 pm," he had told reporters in the morning.

The 12 rat-hole mining personnel were working on the last stretch using hand-held tools, in a confined space.

Waiting at the tunnel site to see his 22-year-old son Manjit, his father of said officials had told the families camping in Silkyara that arrangements would be made for them wherever the workers were taken after evacuation.

"Even nature looks cheerful today,” Jaimal Singh said, as he waited for his brother Gabbar Singh’s evacuation. “We have been asked to keep our belongings rolled up and wait for further instructions," he added.

A special ward with 41 oxygen-supported beds had been readied days earlier at the community health centre in Chinyalisaur, about 30 km from Silkyara, for the rescued workers.

Doctors are standing by, as are arrangements to fly workers to more advanced hospitals, if needed.