New Delhi: After 17 days of hardship and determination, the rescue team has finally evacuated all the 41 trapped workers at the Silkyara Tunnel, in the Uttarkashi province of Uttrakhand.
The evacuation was finally successful on Tuesday evening sending a sense of joy in the country.
Everyone congratulated the rescue team and the trapped workers for their sheer determination and grit in the face of hardship.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also took on X (Formerly known as Twitter), to show his respect towards all the trapped workers and the rescue team.
He posted a tweet captioned, “The success of the rescue operation of our labor 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. It is a matter of great satisfaction that after a long wait these friends of ours will now meet their loved ones. The patience and courage that all these families have shown in this challenging time cannot be appreciated enough. I also salute the spirit of all the people associated with this rescue operation. His bravery and determination have given new life to our labor brothers. Everyone involved in this mission has set an amazing example of humanity and teamwork.”
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
The 17 days of battle
The workers were stuck inside the tunnel after the entrance of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, around 5:30 in the morning according to the Indian standard time.
The rescue work commenced under the tunnelling expert Arnold Dix, with the help of auger machine, which broke down after 12 days of extreme drilling.
The plan was then switched to vertical and manual drilling through rat mining process, which is banned in India, and interestingly enough the banned process turned out to be the saviour as all the 41 workers were successfully evacuated on Tuesday evening after being stuck for 17 days.
#WATCH | Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue: CM Pushkar Singh Dhami says, They(workers) all have come out from a different environment and condition so we will do as per the advice of the doctors…first they will be kept under medical supervision, their monitoring will be… pic.twitter.com/peC78V181X
— ANI (@ANI) November 28, 2023
