Trapped 41 Workers Moments Away from Rescue: Says Uttarakhand CM Dhami

New Delhi: Forty-one workers trapped in Uttarakhand’s Silkyari tunnel are now moments away from escaping their earthen prison of 17 days, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami posted on X on Tuesday afternoon.

Rescue teams racing to save the 41 men have cleared the final few metres of debris – thanks to the banned manual “rat-hole”-mining technique being employed after high-tech machines, or augers, failed to drill through nearly 60 metres of rock – and lay pipes to create an escape route, he said.

“As a result of immense grace of Baba Baukh Nagji (and) prayers of crores of countrymen and the tireless work of all rescue teams… the work of laying pipes in the tunnel to take out the workers has been completed. Soon all the labourer brothers will be taken out,” the Chief Minister said on X.

Disaster response teams and medical personnel area ready with 41 ambulances to attend to the rescued workers when they come out of the tunnel. A green corridor has been established to ensure each ambulance reaches the makeshift hospital in Chinyalisaur, 30 km from the tunnel site.