Silkyara Tunnel collapse: 15-men NDRF team roped in rescue of 41 workers

A 15-man strong NDRF team led by a commandant has been tasked to take out one by one the 41 labourers stuck for the last 10 days in the collapsed Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi.

The evacuation method which involves a series of 800 mm diameter steel pipes has proven to be a big challenge for the rescuers so far.

The NDRF jawans have conducted a mock drill on how they will go through the pipe to the other side of the rubble where the labourers are stuck, NDRF second-in-command (2 ic) Ravi Shankar Badhani told PTI.

A team of doctors has been deployed inside the tunnel as well as ambulances outside for the safe passage of the rescued.

According to the evacuation plan, wheel-fitted low-height stretchers will be taken to the other side where workers are trapped, a government source said.

The men from the National Disaster Response Force, wearing oxygen kits, will crawl through the pipe carrying a stretcher, a rope, and oxygen kits for workers.

"The stretcher will be tied with ropes from both sides and one by one, these workers will be taken out," an officer told PTI.

A team of NDRF will stay put on the other side till every worker is evacuated, the officer said.

The ambulances will transport the workers to a hospital, set up in Chinyalisaur, about 30 kilometres from the tunnel spot.

Forty-one ambulances stand ready outside the tunnel to transport the evacuees to the Chinyalisaur CHC where a separate ward has been created for them with 41 oxygen-supported beds, said the officer.