“All 40 personnel trapped inside the tunnel are alive,” Karamveer Singh Bhandari, commander-in-chief of the National Disaster Response Force, said in a statement on Monday (Nov. 13). “We sent them food and water,” he added.
The collapse occurred early Sunday in the southern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, according to rescue efforts.
“About 200 meters of the tunnel collapsed,” Durgesh Rathodi, an emergency official who visited the site, told Agence France-Presse. “Forty or forty-one employees are trapped inside. The debris provides oxygen, but more debris falls as rescuers try to clear the obstruction. »
The 4. 5 kilometer long Silkyara Bend-Bargot tunnel is being constructed to facilitate the connection between two Hindu shrines, Yamunotri temple and Uttarkashi temple. Photos released by rescue groups showed huge concrete blocks blocking the tunnel, with twisted steel bars protruding from the ceiling. coming out of the rubble.
“Let’s pray to God that the personnel trapped inside the tunnel will get out safely,” Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Accidents on primary infrastructure structure sites are not unusual in India.