A brief story about the Silkyara Tunnel Rescue Operation

4.5 km Silkyara tunnel is the part of the 890-km-long Char Dham project which aims to provide all weather connectivity to Yamunotri through two-lane paved roads. It will reduce travel distance between Uttarkashi and Yamunotri town by 26 km. On Sunday, 12 November 2023 the tunnel caved in due to a landslide nearby and 41 workers got trapped inside it. A big rescue operation had been launched by drilling through the 60 m blockage of rock and metal debris to create space for a pipe as a horizontal exit passage through which the workers could crawl out of the tunnel. An American auger drilling machine was airlifted by IAF aircraft on Wednesday night, 15 Nov. It started boring through the rubble and pushing a six-metre-long steel pipe of 900 mm diameter into the debris on Thursday afternoon. Later, another pipe was welded to it to push it further in.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district on Thursday, 23 Nov and spoke to the 41 construction workers trapped inside with a view to giving them confidence. "We have come to around 45 metres. We are very close to you now," he said said. Then he added “Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with me every morning to take updates on your condition.”

The operation has been challenging from the beginning, mainly due to the presence of falling boulders, loose soil and metal rods inside the tunnel. The rescue work faced technical glitches, but it seemed to be making steady progress until Friday evening, 24 Nov when the operation faced a big hurdle after the American-auger drilling machine hit a metal girder, causing its blades to get damaged. Anyway, the drilling was set to start from 46.8 metres once again and was expected to take six-eight hours in case no further blockage is faced. But when the operation was ready to restart, it was discovered that a bend had appeared in a six-metre pipe and Machine’s blades had broken.

The rescue operation entered its 15th day on Sunday afternoon, November 26 when an 86-metre vertical drilling was considered as second best alternative and soon employed to rescue the workers. It was expected to be completed in four days. Certain other options to reach the workers were also planned like Sideways or perpendicular drilling covering 170 metres, Drift technology, a 483-metre rescue tunnel using the blast technique from the Barkot end of the tunnel, vertical drilling from the Barkot end by the ONGC.

However, horizontal drilling was considered as the best option. The same day plasma and magna rod cutter machines were brought in. The front part of the Auger machine which was stuck in the pipeline was completely cut with a plasma cutter on November 27 and with that the manual drilling was employed in the evening with the help of Indian Army engineers, rat miners, and other technicians. They succeeded drilling the remaining 13 metres of the rubble and the men were brought out in wheeled stretchers through the 90cm wide pipe. After 17 days the mission was ultimately completed on Tuesday evening, 28 Nov 2023, overcaming many obstacles.

Thanks to the efforts of a group of rat-hole miners, who used hand-held drills through rocks and rubble. One of the rescuers told that the moment they broke through the last part of the debris, there was an outburst of happiness inside the tunnel. There was a sense of national relief after rescuers pulled out the last of the 41 men from the tunnel amid darkness. The workers were smiling, waving and shaking hands with those present there. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, VK Singh received the rescued workers coming out of the tunnel and greeted them one by one with cheers and flower garlands. There was an air of jubilation among their colleagues and family members too, many of whom had spent days outside the tunnel, praying for the rescue operations to succeed. They could be seen garlanding the workers, embracing them and giving them sweets. People gathered outside the tunnel, setting off firecrackers and distributing sweets. They chanted “Har Har Mahadev” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” in celebration of the successful rescue.

 

One of the trapped men told that it was claustrophobic inside the tunnel and it was a relief to get out. Another worker spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a phone call, saying that the workers would motivate each other to stay positive, that they would go for walks and practice yoga to keep active inside the tunnel and that they ate their meals together. One of them described that he spent time playing games on his mobile phone, which he would charge using portable chargers provided by rescuers through a separate narrow pipe. Kissing his son Manjit Chaudhary Lal said, "I have already lost one son to an accident at a construction site. I couldn't stand to lose another." Dhanpati, mother of Ram Sundar, told that Diwali will be celebrated in their village on Tuesday today after her son's safe exit from the tunnel instead of on 12 November - the actual festival day.

The workers were supplied with quality food, oxygen and water through the narrow pipe since early in the rescue. All of them were kept in constant communication with doctors, psychiatrists and their family members. On 21 November, the first images of the trapped men emerged as a medical endoscopy camera was pushed through the pipeline. Some 12 men in helmets and construction worker jackets were captured standing in a semi-circle in the glow of tunnel lights.

Local people said, “The construction company had promised to build a temple of Baukh Nag Baba in the forest just above the Silkyara Tunnel, but the temple has not been built since 2019. The small temple built by the villagers has also been demolished. So this accident is the wrath of God.”When initial efforts to rescue the trapped workers failed, a makeshift temple of the deity was established outside the tunnel for the rescue workers to offer prayers each day for the success of their mission. Uttarakhand CM and the foreign expert Mr Arnold Dix worshiped Baba BhaukhNag there. Temple priest Ganesh Prasad Bijalwan said that the company officials apologised and promised to build another shrine. He performed puja and prayed for the success of the ongoing rescue to save the workers. A figure of Lord Shiva made of water behind the makeshift temple appeared on November 27. He blessed the rescue workers, who succeded getting the workers out of the tunnel safely. At the end of the operation Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami went to the makeshift temple to express his gratitude to Baba Bhaukhnag and promised to rebuild the temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took regular updates and PMO officials were stationed at the spot, monitoring the operation closely. The PM lauded the courage and patience of the trapped workers calling it an “inspiration to everyone”. He also had a 15-minute phone conversation with the labourers. He said, “I congratulate everyone, I am very happy. Kedarnath Baba and Badrinath ji ki kripa rahi.

Ambulances ferried the rescued workers to a community at Chinyalisaur health centre where a special 41-bed ward had been prepared for their arrival. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the workers at the hospital and handed over Rs 1 lakh to each of them on Wednesday, Nov 29. He also announced Rs 50,000 reward for each of the rescue workers who went inside the evacuation passage and helped the trapped labourers come out of the tunnel. Finally Chinook helicopter transported all the workers to Rishikesh AIIMS, where they were kept under observation for about 48 to 72 hours. According to Mr Arnold Dix, an Australian underground expert hired as a consultant by the government it ranked as the toughest tunnel rescue operation he had ever encountered.