"Faced difficulty for first 10-15 hours...": Worker rescued from tunnel shares his ordeal

UTTARKASHI: Vishwajeet Kumar Verma, one of the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel for 17 days, shared his ordeal. He told news agency ANI that the workers, including himself, got food inside the tunnel.

"When the debris fell, we knew that we were stuck. For the first 10-15 hours we faced difficulty. But later, a pipe was put in to provide us with rice, dal and dry fruits. Later a mic was installed and I was able to talk to my family members.", Verma said.

'I am happy now and will celebrate Diwali even though it is over.' he added. 41 workers who were trapped in the tunnel for seventeen days were pulled out of the tunnel safely last night.

The first person was brought out at 8 pm. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRS) entered through a 60-meter-long rescue tube and rescued each worker on a wheeled stretcher. The soldiers outside the tunnel pulled this roped stretcher and pulled each one out. By 9 pm, everyone was pulled out. Later they were shifted to the hospital. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced that the health condition of all the rescued workers is satisfactory. All the rescued workers are reportedly under observation now.