Shillong, Nov 29: After 17 days of relentless rescue efforts, the 41 trapped workers in a collapsed portion of the Silkyara tunnel on Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi were rescued on Tuesday evening.

The workers were rescued around 8 PM by a huge ensemble of agencies that have toiled hard and used numerous machines for the last 17 days.

The workers got trapped in the Silkyara portion of the tunnel on November 12, 2023 on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway, when it collapsed in the early hours of the morning. The rescue workers had been providing them with food, water, medical supplies and other essentials through pipes.

The American Auger drill — a corkscrew-like device with a rotary blade at the front end — which drilled around 46.8 metres, had to be withdrawn as its blades got fouled up by the rocky debris and iron rods that formed part of the tunnel ceiling.

Rat-hole miners were called in to manually dig the rocks over a 12-metre last stretch that proved too tough for an American Augur drill and several other devices. Simultaneously, vertical drilling from above the tunnel was done.

As rescue workers broke through the last stretch of the rubble, NDRF and SDRF men entered the steel chute to reach the workers and brought them out on a wheeled stretcher.

Following the completion of the mammoth rescue operation, President Droupadi Murmu congratulated the rescue teams and experts and also lauded the resilience of the trapped workers who take great risks to build critical infrastructure. “I feel relieved and happy to learn that all the workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand have been rescued. Their travails over 17 days, as the rescue effort met with obstacles, have been a testament of human endurance. The nation salutes their resilience and remains grateful to them for building critical infrastructure, even at great personal risk, far away from their homes. I congratulate the teams and all experts who have acted with incredible grit and determination to perform one of the most difficult rescue missions in history,” she tweeted.

I feel relieved and happy to learn that all the workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand have been rescued. Their travails over 17 days, as the rescue effort met with obstacles, have been a testament of human endurance. The nation salutes their resilience and remains grateful…

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 28, 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to X, formerly twitter, to laud the courage of the trapped workers. He tweeted: “The success of the rescue operation of our labourer brothers in Uttarkashi is making everyone emotional. I want to say to the friends who were trapped in the tunnel that your courage and patience is inspiring everyone. I wish you all well and good health.”

उत्तरकाशी में हमारे श्रमिक भाइयों के रेस्क्यू ऑपरेशन की सफलता हर किसी को भावुक कर देने वाली है।

टनल में जो साथी फंसे हुए थे, उनसे मैं कहना चाहता हूं कि आपका साहस और धैर्य हर किसी को प्रेरित कर रहा है। मैं आप सभी की कुशलता और उत्तम स्वास्थ्य की कामना करता हूं।

यह अत्यंत…

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 28, 2023

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was also present at the site as the rescue operation entered its final leg.

After their successful extraction, all the 41 workers were taken to a temporary hospital set-up inside the tunnel for medical check-up and acclimatisation to the temperature outside.

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