Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: All 41 Rescued Workers In Good Health, To Be Airlifted To AIIMS For Trauma Check

New Delhi: The workers who were miraculously rescued 17 days after the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi collapsed, are in good health.

Having been attended to and provided necessary treatment at Chinyalisour hospital, a local community health centre, after they were evacuated safely on Tuesday night, all 41 workers are likely to be airlifted to Rishikesh’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Wednesday.

Chief medical officer (Uttarkashi) RCS Panwar said the workers were in good physical and mental health.

“We have kept all workers under observation after they were rescued from the tunnel. No one has reported any ailment,” said RCS Panwar, chief medical officer (Uttarkashi), adding that they will be flown to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh.

Indian Air Force’s Chinook helicopter, which has been on stand-by at the site of the rescue operation, is likely to ferry the 41 workers to AIIMS.

Doctors at AIIMS will thoroughly examine the workers to check whether they have suffered trauma or contracted any infection during their 17-day ordeal under the debris of the collapsed tunnel.

Following a fortnight of day-night efforts by various teams and agencies to drill through the tunnel, the final breakthrough was achieved when a team of 12 rat-hole miners burrowed through a wall of rock, mud and debris with hand-held tools on Tuesday.

The workers were wheeled out one by one by disaster relief personnel through a 57-metre-long steel chute inserted into the tunnel.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the workers at Chinyalisour hospital on Tuesday night and again this morning.

The CM also interacted with relatives of the trapped workers who were over the moon to reunite with their close ones.