Rescue workers ‘close to’ breaking through rubble in Silkyara tunnel

Rescue workers were “close” to reaching the breakthrough point at the 60-metre stretch of rubble in Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand on Tuesday, a move that may soon end the ordeal of 41 workers trapped inside for 16 days. At the disaster site, state government’s information department chief Bansi Dhar Tiwari told reporters a little after 1.30 pm that the drilling was “over”.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami later said in a post on social media platform X, “With immense blessings of Baba Baukhnag, prayers of crores of country’s citizens and relentless hard work of the rescue agencies involved in the operations, pipe-laying through the tunnel has been completed and our brothers will soon be evacuated.”