The 41 workers who were rescued from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand after being trapped for over two weeks revealed how they passed the time during their ordeal. Ankit, one of the rescued workers, shared that they played childhood games and took walks to keep themselves occupied. He described the experience as a “near-death experience” and expressed concern for his family, as they were unable to communicate with them. Ankit mentioned that they created a card game using a pen and diary and slept on geotextiles inside the tunnel.
After their rescue, images and videos of their time inside the collapsed tunnel were accessed. The videos showed piles of fruits and plastic bottles filled with dry fruits and hot khichdi that were pushed into the tunnel through a pipe. The workers were seen enjoying meals including roti, vegetables, and rice in the photos. They also took selfies and posed for pictures with the collapsed tunnel in the background.
The 41 men were trapped on November 12 when a section of the tunnel collapsed. They were finally evacuated on November 28 after a successful rescue operation involving multiple agencies. Rat-hole miners dug a hole through, and the workers were extricated using stretchers fitted with wheels and 57 meters of steel pipe.
