"Once he comes out, we will never allow him to work here again," a distraught Chaudhary said on Sunday, waiting for the rescue of his son, who has been stuck inside the collapsed tunnel in Silkyara along with 40 others for two weeks.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Friday said no progress has been made since Thursday in drilling through the debris at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand to rescue 41 trapped workers but assured that the drilling by auger machine will start soon.
An ill woman being carried by her family members for 12 km to reach the nearest medical facility in the Badiyar area of Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, July 19, 2022.
Jaymal Singh Negi mentioned that his brother informed him about the trapped men engaging in yoga and exercises inside the tunnel.
Savita Kanswal, 26, was posthumously awarded the highest adventure award at Rashtrapati Bhavan this month. She died heroically, as she had lived, doing what no woman had done before her.
President of International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, Arnold Dix arrived at the location site in Silkyara, Uttarkashi, to aid in the rescue efforts and expressed optimism over the prospects of rescue and relief operations that are underway.
"The new food supply pipeline has also made it easier to supply better food in larger quantities to them, which is a good thing. Otherwise the situation remains the same," said Negi, who spoke to his brother.
As rescuers in India on Tuesday successfully pulled out all 41 construction workers trapped in a collapsed mountain tunnel in Uttarakhand after 16 days, the global media hailed the rescue operation and provided live coverage of the dramatic development.
The labourers are safe, and oxygen, electricity, medicines, food items and water are being constantly supplied to them through pipes, they said.
'The situation is much better now. Last night, we had to work on two things. First, we had to revamp the platform of the machine... Parsons Company had done the ground penetration radar, through which we got to know that for the next 5 meters, there is no metallic obstruction. This means that our drilling should be smooth. When we were taking out the debris, we got two mangled pipes'
Rescue operations to evacuate 41 workers trapped in the tunnel resumed on Thursday morning after an iron mesh that had come in the path of the auger machine drilling an escape path was removed.
Swami Darshan Bharti, the founder of "Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan" which had allegedly pasted threatening posters on shops run by Muslims in the communally tense Purola, on Friday claimed that he has received a death threat.
After a 59-year wait, an ancient trade route across a 150-year-old bridge is open near the India-China border in Uttarakhand.
'We are hoping that in three-four days we will surely get a positive result.'
He said he has spoken to the trapped labourers.
The team consisted of trainee mountaineers from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and their trainers.
Not long ago, the rat-hole miner was feted for his role in rescuing with his team 41 workers trapped in Uttarkashi's Silkyara tunnel in November last year.
For a 25-year-old Manjeet Chauhan stuck in Silkyara tunnel survival hinged on a picture of his parents and words of a lost brother, whom he took as a role model after his death in an accident last year.
From the landing of Chandrayaan 3 to the bombardment of Palestine by Israel, a look at some events that shaped the world in the second half of 2023.
Drilling at the collapsed portion of the tunnel to rescue the trapped men was halted again on Friday night, in yet another setback to the multi-agency effort.
'The rocks, the geology of the Himalayas will always spring surprises.' 'It's basically force majeure and the will of god.'
The posters were put up on the shutters of the shops late on Sunday evening, Purola station house officer Khajan Singh Chauhan said.
Sukhram, all of 22, reached his village at 1 am to a rousing welcome after staying trapped in the Silkyara tunnel for 17 days.
'The Weather Channel argues that India faces the gravest challenge: Climate change-induced health vulnerability.' 'This is an issue often neglected, alerts Claude Arpi: "Prolonged summers, unpredictable rains, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels are the harsh realities of climate change in the country. These factors increase the frequency and severity of illnesses, pushing people into poverty, and forcing migration".'
Dr Ravikant said the workers were thoroughly examined and their blood test, X-ray, and ECG reports were normal.
'The workers are doing fine as they get almost every essential item inside'
Four earthquakes, the strongest being of magnitude 6.2, jolted Nepal in quick succession with tremors reverberating through parts of north India including Delhi-NCR, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said on Tuesday.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday visited the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel site for a review of the rescue operations being carried out there to evacuate 40 labourers trapped inside since Sunday morning following its partial collapse.
The NDMA member further stated that the health conditions of the rescued workers will be monitored for the next 48 to 72 hours.
A total of 86 metres have to be drilled vertically to prepare an escape passage. Pipes of 1.2 metres in diameter have to be laid vertically through the top of the tunnel on which work began on Sunday as a second option to reach the stranded labourers.
We need to have patience as it is a dangerous operation,NDMA member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said.
The auger machine was facing repeated obstructions in the rubble in the past few days.
'I decided to send a bat and a ball which was smaller in size so that it shouldn't get stuck in the pipe. And with that, they had a little good time.'
Heavy rains in Uttarakhand caused a surge in streams that damaged buildings and shops while landslides in the hills blocked national highways and a number of rural motor roads on Thursday.
'If you are constructing the tunnel in the Himalayan region, then if you have constructed 10 metres of tunnel, first you will have to do proper treatment and ensure the stability of this constructed structure.' 'You cannot just throw concrete on the ceiling and sidewall of the tunnel for permanent stability. That will not work.'
The labourers have been trapped since Sunday morning when a part of the tunnel collapsed following a landslide.
The 41 workers, who were rescued from Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation, kept their spirits up while trapped inside by taking morning walks and practising yoga, a rescued worker told Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The weather office has forecast intense spells of rain at isolated places in Nainital, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Dehradun, Tehri and Pauri districts on Sunday.
Rescue workers pulled out all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in a multi-agency rescue operation that hovered between hope and despair for 16 days.
Of the 16 bodies retrieved, 14 are of trainees and two of instructors, NIM said in a bulletin.
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