Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) : The families of the trapped workers burst into celebrations upon the safe return of their loved ones from the Silkyara tunnel spot in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district on Tuesday evening. An air of joy and relief descended among the rescue teams drawn from a multitude of government agencies and foreign experts following the success of the operations.
Of the 41 rescued mining workers, at least 15 hail from Jharkhand, 2 from Uttarakhand, 5 from Bihar, 3 from West Bengal, eight from Uttar Pradesh, five from Odisha, two from Assam, and one from Himachal Pradesh.
Their family members and relatives in different parts of the country burst into joy and celebrated the moment like Diwali by bursting crackers. Many relatives, who had reached the site a couple of days after the incident and had been camping there since then, were finally reunited with their loved ones.
Meanwhile, locals also erupted in jubilation at the tunnel site and were seen exchanging sweets as the trapped workers finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. Urmila, the mother of Vishal, one of the rescued workers from the Silkyara tunnel, shared her happiness, thanking the governments of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
"I am very happy with the governments of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh; I thank them from the bottom of my heart," she said. Visuals also showed celebrations in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri at the residence of Manjit, another worker who was trapped.
Similar scenes surfaced from Odisha's Nabarangpur, where family members of Bhagban Batra celebrated their joyous moment by bursting crackers and distributing sweets after his successful rescue from the tunnel. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who had reached the site along with Union Minister of State General (Retd) V K Singh met the workers after they were rescued.
A relative of Santosh Kumar, one of the workers, who was rescued from the Uttarkashi tunnel, said, "I am very happy... He asked us not to worry and said that he would return soon. 6 people from Shravasti were trapped inside the tunnel..."
Another relative of the same rescued worker said, "We are happy. We are celebrating Diwali. I thank the government for safely rescuing our children from the tunnel... We had a conversation with our son, and he said he is fine..."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to the rescued men over the phone. The Mammoth rescue operation was launched after a portion under-construction tunnel from Silkyara end caved in on November 12 trapping 41 workers. (with agency inputs)
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