Uttarkashi Tunnel / Neither the courage of the rescuers wavered, nor the patience of the workers broke...the mountain was torn apart

Uttarkashi Tunnel: If the gate of the room is locked from outside, then what will be the condition of the person trapped inside within 10 minutes, only the one who has ever been locked can feel this. What if those same 10 minutes turn into 17 days? Imagine what would have been the mental condition of the workers trapped in the tunnel of Uttarkashi? Of course, they were given bat balls for entertainment, mobile phones to watch movies, but was all this enough to maintain their patience?

The biggest challenge faced by the workers trapped in the tunnel of Uttarkashi was to maintain patience, they passed this test continuously for 17 days. While coming out of the tunnel, the smiling faces of all the 41 workers were witness to the victory that they had won by fighting death every moment. Not only the laborers, we should also salute those protectors who worked tirelessly and tirelessly for these 17 days to save the trapped laborers. There was a mountain of difficulties in front, there were obstacles at every moment, but neither wavered nor lost courage and together they overcome the mountain of difficulties and saved all 41 lives.

70 meter wall between life and death

There was a 70 meter wall between the life and death of the workers trapped in the tunnel. In fact, the tunnel was sunk 200 meters inside the Silkyara Tunnel, this part was unpaved, when the workers got trapped on November 12, 60 meter part of the tunnel had collapsed. When the relief team became active and started removing the debris, 10 meters of the tunnel sank further. The total distance between the relief team and the workers was 70 meters. At first the relief team was not able to understand what to do, then preparations were made to rescue the workers from the pipe, but the challenge was how to reach the workers.

How were the conditions in the tunnel?

The relief team was working on every option to get the workers out, the workers inside were restless, there was a two and a half kilometer long tunnel inside where the workers were trapped, the Rat Miners who reached the workers first told this themselves. Nasir, who reached here, told that the workers passed their time by strolling in this two and a half kilometer stretch. Workers used to walk in this part, in this part all the workers had made a place to sleep for themselves, there was a separate part for toilet etc. A place for sitting was also fixed, so that whatever rescue efforts are made from outside, there would be no harm inside.

A ray of hope appeared again

The workers first saw a ray of hope on 13 November when the relief team first established contact through walkie-talkie. On receiving information that all the workers were healthy, food items and oxygen were supplied to them through a pipe. After this, efforts were started to pave the way with the auger machine, the auger machine was brought from Delhi by Air Force aircraft which started working day and night. By November 17, 24 meters of drilling had been done, but then the machine broke down, and the relief work came to a halt. Another machine was called for and the work was resumed.

Got a full meal on 20th November

Till now dry fruits were being supplied to the workers, on 20th November they were sent Khichdi and Dalia for the first time. On 22nd November, it seemed that the workers would come out, but it did not happen, the auger machine was facing such problems continuously, on 25th November, the machine got stuck in the pipe and the hopes of the workers coming out started getting dashed, but. The relief team did not lose courage. On the same day, not one but six options were worked out. Vertical drilling was started from the top of the mountain. The work of taking out the stuck auger machine was done by ordering a plasma cutter from Hyderabad and it was decided that further excavation would be done manually.

Bat ball sent to motivate workers

There was enough space inside the tunnel, to keep the workers occupied, the relief team sent bat balls and mobile phones so that they could play video games and watch movies. All these exercises were done only to keep the workers away from worries, so that their patience does not break. The army was called outside. After the release of the auger machine, manual drilling started. Rat miners kept digging for 28 hours continuously. After digging by hand for 18 meters, the relief team finally got the destination and the workers got life.