Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave
NEW DELHI – Rescuers in India initially tried to drill horizontally through the mountain, but the powerful machines failed. They then tried to drill vertically, but to no avail.
After nearly three weeks of repeated failed attempts to reach 41 stranded construction workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel nearly 300 feet (90 meters) underground, rescuers finally managed to get through the last few feet of rock in the Himalayas using their bare hands and shovels.
Rescuers finally reached the workers trapped under the mountain for 17 days on Tuesday evening after pushing a 31-inch-diameter pipe through the collapsed rubble – one of India’s most closely watched rescue operations in years. The workers were gradually taken out one by one and all were rescued late in the evening.
All 41 construction workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas for 17 days were rescued on November 28. (Video: Portal)
“The people who worked on the tunnel project made some mistakes. “It shouldn’t have collapsed like that,” Harpal Singh, one of the rescuers, said on the phone before the final stage. “But no one is talking about it at the moment because our goal is to get the men out first.”
As India investigates a deadly train crash, critics raise safety concerns
The tunnel project is part of a major infrastructure development near the country’s contentious and disputed border with China, among other things to strengthen claims to this wild terrain, home to some of the world’s highest peaks. It is also part of a new network of roads, bridges and tunnels linking Hindu religious sites in northern India, built with the aim of boosting votes ahead of next year’s elections.
When a committee presented environmental concerns about the project to the Supreme Court in 2021, the government cited the importance of getting critical weapons to the border quickly should a conflict break out.
India takes action against coal critics
But now the collapsed tunnel in Silkyara, Uttarakhand, is seen as another case of infrastructure problems that could have been avoided in the country’s touted development boom.
To reach the trapped workers through nearly 200 feet of rock, rescue teams had to overcome a series of obstacles. A US-made auger cutting through the soft Himalayan rock provided a glimmer of hope, but ultimately failed.
At a depth of 72 feet, the machines began to cause the mountain to shake and vibrate. “It could have led to the complete collapse of the tunnel,” said Singh, the head of an ongoing tunnel project in Kashmir who was pulled out of vacation to help with the mission.
“But now things are going back to plan,” Singh, who was camping in front of the collapsed tunnel with other experts, said on Tuesday. “We are all waiting for the last man to get out safely. Until then, there will be no stopping man and machine.”
Arnold Dix, president of the Geneva-based International Tunneling and Space Association, who was brought in as an adviser, told the BBC it was the most difficult task he had ever had.
Narrow pipes of 10 to 15 cm were used to transport food, medicine and oxygen, and even a video camera was used to visually communicate with workers trapped after a landslide on the ongoing construction project on November 12.
The tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Char Dham Highway project, which connects four Hindu holy sites in the hill state with bridges and flyovers. Two years after Modi came to power in 2014, he announced the $1.6 billion mega-project to expand 553 miles of strategic all-weather roads in the mid-Himalayan region.
But environmentalists have warned that the rushed and invasive work in the fragile ecosystem is disastrous given the recurrent landslides that plague the area.
Ravi Chopra, an environmentalist who chaired a Supreme Court-appointed committee set up in 2019 to assess road development in the region, said his team warned project authorities during site visits to the tunnel construction site.
During a visit in late 2019, when drilling for the project began, Chopra pointed out that “dirt coming out of the tunnel was thrown onto the slopes outside the tunnel.”
“This is not how big projects are done,” Chopra said, presenting a long list of ways environmental concerns were ignored on the site.
In one case, his committee noted a jungle of oak and rhododendrons on the hillside where construction was taking place, indicating the presence of water, which meant that the limestone rock was riddled with voids, making the area around the tunnel weak would, he said.
The government ignored the warnings and told the Supreme Court that the widened road was vital to the country’s defense.
But the geological survey was “inadequate” and the project was “rushed and rushed,” Chopra stressed. “Interesting and most importantly, this project managed to avoid an environmental impact assessment. It is clear from last week’s events that there was no disaster management plan in place.”
Realizing that the committee was toothless, Chopra resigned.
Ram Prasad Narzary, 45, is one of the workers trapped in the mountain and spoke to his family for the first time on Sunday through a landline phone fixed in the cave.
His wife visited the temple in the northeastern state of Assam twice a day and prayed for his safe return.
“I know that my father works in such difficult conditions so that I can get a better education and a secure future,” Bidang Narzary, his daughter, told The Washington Post. “It hurts me a lot to see him suffering now.”
“I miss my father very much,” she said. “I want him home soon.”
Irfan reported from Srinagar, India.