In a race against time, rescue and relief operations have been launched on a war footing in the Silkyara Tunnel, located on the Uttarkashi-Yamnotri road, as a section of the tunnel collapsed Sunday morning, trapping around 40 labourers inside.

Ranveer Singh Chauhan, a member of the Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD), said that the rescue team has been able to establish communication with the workers trapped under the debris.

“Work is underway at a great speed. Everyone is working very hard. We were saddened yesterday because we weren’t able to communicate with those trapped. But then we were able to communicate with them,” Chauhan said.

Providing an update on the ongoing operations, Mritunjay Kumar, a loader operator involved in the rescue efforts, said that the team is removing the debris using excavators and other heavy machines.

“The work of mucking is underway. Mucking is being done with the loader & excavator. Approximately 30-35 meters part of the tunnel has been broken. The incident happened around 5:30 am. We have information of around 40-45 people being trapped. Everyone is safe,” Kumar told ANI.

Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Arpan Yaduvanshi earlier said that the collapse occurred between 6 and 7 am, with a portion of the under-construction tunnel connecting Silkyara to Dandalgaon giving way. The affected section is reported to be about 200 meters from the starting point on the Silkyara side of Brahmakhal-Polgaon.

Citing officials from the Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company Limited (HIDCL), the contracted entity responsible for the tunnel’s construction, Yaduvanshi had initially put the number of labourers trapped in the tunnel at 36.

However, the District Emergency Operation Centre later released a list of 40 labourers trapped inside. They are from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Oxygen is being pumped into the collapsed section of the tunnel, which is part of the Char Dham all-weather road project, through a water pipe so that the trapped labourers do not have difficulty breathing, Yaduvanshi said.

A team from the State Disaster Response Team (SDRF) and the police are in charge of the ongoing rescue operations. Border Roads Organisation and Indo-Tibetan Border Police teams led by Commanding Officer Naman Narula and Assistant Commandant Jadhav Vaibhav were roped in later to assist the rescue efforts.