BENGALURU: In what is being termed as the most challenging rescue operation in India thus far, there was not a single instance when the rescue team had lost hope of rescuing the 41 workers who were trapped in the Silkyara tunnel (in Uttarakhand) for 17 days.
Speaking to this newspaper soon after he landed in Delhi from Silkyara, Lt Gen Harpal Singh (Retd), former Engineering-Chief and Director General, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), who was a member of the rescue team said it was by far the “most” challenging rescue operation he had seen and also, the “best” example in which all government agencies including the Army and Air Force had worked in “seamless coordination” with each other.
“It was an all-of-a-nation approach and directly controlled by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). All possible technologies, equipment, experts including the President of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, Arnold Dix were roped in to bring the 41 trapped workers out safely,” said Singh. He added that it was the “most heartening moment to see the workers walk out of the collapsed tunnel smiling, physically, mentally and emotionally fit.”
Speaking about the rescue operation, Singh said that they had to take firm, but baby steps to dig softly inside the collapsed tunnel because of the unstable Himalayan terrain. “The part of the tunnel which collapsed is geologically very frail. Any aggressive drilling to reach out to the trapped men would have led to further collapse of the tunnel endangering the lives of the men. The safety of the trapped workers and the rescuers was the top priority of the operation. There were some setbacks after the blades of the Auger drill machine got stuck with the steel in the debris. We realised that classical clearing of the debris would lead to further collapse of the tunnel.
That’s when we decided to deploy a khodo (diggers) party or the rat miners, who dug by hand, metre by metre and cleared the debris with traditional digging tools to make small openings,” said the Army veteran.
Rat miners work in coal mines and for underground infrastructure such as laying down of sewer lines. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned rat hole mining practice in 2014 because of its hazardous nature leading to the death of workers. The former BRO DG is credited with the resurgence of BRO in 2018 and construction of the Atal Tunnel, Mansarovar Yatra Road, Daulat Beg Oldi road.
‘Geologically frail’
Lt Gen Harpal Singh said the part of the tunnel which collapsed is geologically very frail. Any aggressive drilling to reach out to the trapped men would have led to further collapse of the tunnel endangering the lives of the men