Workers exit Silkyara tunnel collapse site after 17 days, PM Modi lauds 'amazing example of teamwork'

livemint.com:

Narendra Modi. Chants of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Modi hai to Mumkin hai' also rang out as the multi-agency rescue operation concluded on Monday evening. Locals were also seen distributing sweets outside Silkyara tunnel as the rescue efforts continued.

They sang in prase of local deity 'Baba Baukhnag' and offered prayers at a makeshift temple set up in the vicinity. “There has been a great success in the ongoing rescue operation in the Silkyara Tunnel, the work of pipe pushing has been done across the debris. Now preparations have been started to evacuate the workers safely," Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had tweeted as the workers began to emerge.

CM Dhami and Union minister VK Singh interacted with the victims inside Silkyara tunnel after their rescue. The workers will now be kept under medical observation for 48-72 hours. A 41 bed hospital has also been set up at the Community Health Center in Chinyalisaur for their medical treatment.

A Chinook helicopter remained on standby at the Chinyalisaur airstrip in case it became necessary to airlift the workers. “The rescued workers will be brought here only if medical treatment requirements cannot be met in Uttarkashi District hospital. At AIIMS Rishikesh, there are 20 beds in Trauma Centre and a few ICU beds.

If the workers are brought here, they can be given good medical care. A team of doctors has been constituted to be sent to Uttarkashi, if ordered by the state government," Assistant Professor Dr Narinder Kumar had told ANI earlier on Tuesday. “I feel relieved and happy to learn that all the workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand have been rescued.