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RESCUERS ARE WORKING around the clock to remove debris and extract 40 workers who have been trapped for more than two days after a tunnel under construction collapsed in northern India.
Officials hope to extricate the workers in the next 24 hours, with about 200 rescuers from federal and state disaster relief agencies using drilling equipment and excavators to reach them.
A 0.76m steel pipe will be pushed through an opening of excavated debris with the aid of hydraulic jacks to safely pull out the stranded workers, authorities said.
The tunnel collapsed on Sunday in Uttarakhand, a mountainous state that is visited by many pilgrims and tourists.
The tunnel is part of the busy Chardham all-weather road, a flagship federal government project connecting various Hindu pilgrimage sites.
Senior government official Ranjit Sinha said falling debris has been hindering the rescue operation and added that they expect to free the workers by Tuesday night or Wednesday.
He said all the workers are alive and have been supplied with water and dry food through a pipeline.
Worried families of the trapped workers have been following the rescue process closely.
Lakshmi Pakhirai, mother of one of the workers, said: “Someone who is there in Uttarakhand called and told us that Souvik is fine and rescue workers have spoken to him. They said he is fine and healthy.”
The collapsed portion of the 4.5km tunnel is about 200m from the entrance, Karamveer Singh, an official with the National Disaster Response Force, said.
He said rescuers have also established contact with the stranded workers using walkie-talkies, and in one case a written message on paper was sent through the pipeline to communicate with them.
It is believed the tunnel collapsed due to a landslide.
Most of the workers trapped inside are migrant labourers from across the country.
Uttarakhand sees a huge flow of pilgrims and tourists every year to visit the temples, with the numbers expanding over the years due to the continuous construction of buildings and roads.
In January, state authorities moved hundreds of people to temporary shelters after a temple collapsed and cracks appeared in more than 600 houses because of the sinking of land in and around Joshimath town in the region.
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This winner of this week’s Ireland’s dumbest criminal.
They’re all winners.
Should have been a maniac instead of a brainiac
may be dumb but dangerous as any simple google search will show
Recaptured?! He handed himself in.
And didn’t even throw away the knife first. What a genius.
You’d have to wonder where he tried to hide it. Seems like he’s enjoying himself though.
Why do skangers always look the same??? sound the same who are they trying to emulate? They should be aiming themselves to be like enda kenny
Socio – economics peer pressure basically makes them want to fit in. The real question is why anybody who is not a criminal wants to dress like one.
Obviously not too worried about the consequences of his actions and why should he because there are no consequences.
So he handed himself in whilst carrying a weapon. Ireland’s dumbest criminal? Maybe, but I doubt it.
Clearly he just knows that he will. It get any extra prison time for absconding or for carrying a weapon whilst a prisoner.
It will just give him temporary kudos amongst the skang fraternity
Who is in today? haha!
46 convictions at 22 years of age…ffs…what a waste of space!
can’t doubt his dedication…. if this skobe has been done 46 times. imagine what he’s got away with…… I’d have him and his ilk doing 20 years hard labour or chain ganged
Plonker!
Let’s hope the authorities manage to hold on to him this time
Left through the back door of the courthouse! I suppose we should be grateful he isn’t Hannibal Lector
what a dope he walked into a cop shot known he was wanted carrying a weapon, surely he must have known he would be searched
cop shop
No point in been stupid if you don’t show it !
*being
Yawn !
He’s not called short planks for nothing.
What a dud.
He looks like a right F×ckin Donkey!
A knife,a number of phones, and a USB stick. Jaysus
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