Rescuers release first video of workers trapped inside collapsed Uttarakhand tunnel
UTTARKASHI,NOV 21: Rescuers on Tuesday released the first video of the workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel here for 10 days. The visuals were captured using an endoscopic camera sent in through the alternative 6-inch food pipeline which was pushed through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel on Monday.
In the video, the workers, wearing yellow and white helmets, are seen receiving food items sent to them through the pipeline and talking to each other.
This comes as a big relief to the families of these workers.
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) Director Anshu Manish Khalkho had earlier said that cameras would be inserted through the pipeline to see how the workers were doing.
The camera was sent in after it came from Delhi late on Monday evening.
The labourers have been trapped since last Sunday at the partially collapsed Silkyara tunnel.
The Silkyara tunnel, about 30 km from the district headquarters of Uttarkashi and a seven-hour drive from the Uttarakhand capital Dehradun, is part of the ambitious Char Dham all-weather road project of the central government.
Rescue operations are being carried out on a war footing since portions of the tunnel collapsed following a landslide early on November 12, leaving 41 workers trapped behind a huge mound of debris.
Until Monday, a four-inch existing tube was being used to supply oxygen and items like dry fruit and medicines into the section of the tunnel beyond the rubble of the collapsed portion of the tunnel.
The Uttarakhand government will bear the travel, food and lodging expenses of relatives of the 41 trapped workers, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday said.
The state government will bear the expenses of people who want to visit Silkyara to enquire about their well-being, he said.
Psychiatrists have also been roped in to maintain the morale of the trapped workers, the chief minister said.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Yashpal Arya on Monday said if there was an exit tunnel in the Silkyara tunnel, the 41 labourers trapped inside would have been evacuated by now and demanded a CBI probe into the factors that led to the unfortunate incident.
-PTI
