As rescue efforts enter the second week, first visuals of the 41 worked trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi were released on Tuesday, 21 November.
Details: Rescuers released the video on Tuesday, filmed using endoscopic camera sent in through the alternative 6-inch food pipeline, reported news agency PTI.
Rescue workers can be seen trying to interact with the help of the camera and a walkie talkie.
This comes after Anshu Manish Khalkho, the Director of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), said that the cameras will be inserted through the pipes to assess the well being of the workers, reported The Indian Express.
The 6-inch pipe was inserted on Monday to provide food and other essentials to the trapped workers.
Of note: The same pipeline was used on Monday to send Khichdi – first hot meal in nine days, to the workers.
Colonel Deepak Patil, overseeing the rescue operation said that they pack bananas, apples, Khichdi, and Daliya in plastic cylindrical bottles with wide mouths to send.
Meanwhile, Arnold Dix, international Tunneling expert present at the site told news agency ANI, "It's fantastic, of course, the news we have had over the last few hours. It is great to see the faces of those men that we are going to bring home. We have food going to them now, we have communications to them now. You have seen this morning that we have multiple approaches to the rescue. It's a good morning."
"Vertical drilling will start once the site is prepared because for vertical drilling it is very important that it is done very accurately...Two locations identified (for vertical drilling)." he added.
Background: A portion of an under-construction tunnel being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway caved in on Sunday morning, 12 November, trapping 41 workers.
All the trapped labourers are unharmed, while multiple agencies are working overnight to rescue them.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)