Silkyara Tunnel Rescue — Where the Best of India Came Together

The 18-day Silkyara rescue saga kept the world hooked. And it was a fairytale ending at the end, and 41 trapped came out healthy and in high spirits.

This adds to the country’s glorious heritage of achieving the impossible. How did we do it? Here are some of the lesser-known nuggets I collected:

1. By a stroke of luck, a small pipe was left intact after the collapse. It was the lifeline that kept the power supply on (so it was not dark inside), as well as helped supply drinking water.

The planned tunnel is 4.5 km long, out of which 4 km has already been dug. The workers thankfully had a space of 2 km where they could walk around and keep themselves busy.

2. The country understood the enormity of the situation immediately, and the entire machinery was pressed into service with no time lost. It was members from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), SDRF (State body of Uttarakhand), Army, and other forces, experts, scientists, and officials — all came in together quickly and fast. The CM and Minister of State joined too, but without the usual entourage. A representative was deputed from the Prime Minister’s Office so that any red tape could be cut through.

3. The team also sought help from all across the world. The participation of Prof Arnold Edward Dix is well documented, but there were many more individuals and companies. Even the Pakistan Tunnelling and Trenchless Society is supported with technical advice and rescue solutions. That shows that the people involved had no bias in reaching out for credible support, wherever available.

4. As soon as a narrow hole was set up to reach the trapped workers, food was sent in. The choice was on what is holistic and small in volume. So it was dry fruits (which have a concentration of nutrients and energy), and the hot Khichdi which all Indians like and fill too.

An innovation was sending mobile phones (for reaching out to families) pre-loaded with games like Snake and Ladder and Tetris, so the folks were busy doing things and keeping their minds away from the situation.

5. The focus from the very beginning was to look at multiple solutions. The obvious one that ultimately gave results was the horizontal bore from the tunnel already available. But the concern was to be careful, as given that there was already a collapse, and the Himalayas being a nascent mountain, it should not precipitate another crisis.

Resources were brought in from everywhere — airlifted or trained as necessary. For example, the Augur Machine, which did much of the drilling and was much in the news, was airlifted from Indore. There was a green channel created for the movements — even the likes of Shatabdi and Vande Bharat were delayed for the movement of rescue personnel and machinery.

6. Alternative methods were also simultaneously tried. Though I understand that tunneling from the top was difficult, efforts were also on to chisel away the mountain from the sides, it was led by the army. This is to ensure that time is not lost in case the horizontal bore through the tunnel fails.

7. The communication channels were kept open for the global audience, and facts were shared. No glorification or creation of false hopes was allowed. We have the likes of NDMA member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain giving status reports. Prof Arnold Edward Dix was a prolific communicator and did a terrific job in bringing in the value of keeping the faith in case of extreme uncertainties.

This allowed also the globe to understand the situation and offer help or suggestions in whatever form needed based on the situation.

8. The efforts were kept nimble. After the Augur machine broke and it was found that it is finding it increasingly difficult to cut through not just the rocks and debris, but even the concrete and reinforcements from the tunnel, and even the stuck machinery quick decision was taken to involve the rat hole miners.

Now rat hole mining is a controversial subject, and we find reports often of this as a practice used in illegal mining. For the government to bring them in, in front of the global audience, to make the final push is in my mind a bold decision. And yes, rat miners Feroz, Munna, Rashid, Irshad, Naseem, Monu, Naseer, Ankur, Jatin, Devender, Saurabh, Waqeel, Hasan ultimately become the ultimate heroes.

9. There were issues like lack of safety escape channels which were raised, but thankfully no one spent time debating that and focused on the job on hand. However, to its credit, the issue was not dismissed either. It was also found that NDRF does not have a Tunnel Rescue protocol, and it is being urgently developed. All the entities involved in the rescue efforts have been asked to share all their learnings with NDRF by the 25th of December so that it can be consolidated and a robust Standard Operating Process (SOP) may be developed for any such eventualities in the future.

10. In summary, Silkyara tragedy and rescue proves once again that the best of humanity is in coming together, not in divisions. When we have a clear target, good leadership, an open mind, freedom, and love for others at the core, the impossible can be achieved.