At least 40 workers, including five from Odisha, have been trapped after an under-construction tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district partially collapsed on Sunday.
Efforts are on to rescue all the trapped workers by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF), and the local police.
All the 40 workers are currently safe and being supplied with oxygen through a pipe. Rescue officials are sending water and food items.
The workers from Odisha have been identified as Tapan Mandal, Bhagban Batra from Nabarangpur, Biseswar Nayak of Mayurbhanj, Dhiren from Kuladiha, and Raju Nayak from Mayurbhanj.
The five Odia workers were also part of the 40-member workers who were engaged in the construction work of the tunnel. Other workers trapped inside the tunnel are mostly from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh.
The tunnel is being constructed to connect Silkyara to Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi. It is being built under the Char Dham Road Project and aims to reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri Dham by 26 km.
(This is a developing story. Refresh for more updates).