SILKYARA: With rescue operation of the 40 trapped workers at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi entering the fifth day on Thursday, the general mood outside has started to change from one of hope to that of agonising waitand despondency.
Every time a rescue worker came out of the affected tunnel during the day, anxious relatives ran towards officials for "updates".With no breakthrough yet, kin - some of whom had arrived from as far as Jharkhand and Assam - have started swamping officials with multiple queries.
Many even raised questions on the operation's efficiency."How long will it take to rescue them? Will it be done in the next few hours or will the hours turn into more days?" a waiting family member of a worker asked impatiently.Some of the relatives have been hanging on to hope, but signs of despair are evident while talking to them.
"I have been speaking to my brother stuck inside and passing on the information to my family back home.
It's been five days and his wife and children are now getting anxious," said Inderjeet Kumar, brother of Vishwajeet Kumar, a worker from Jharkhand, who is trapped in the tunnel.
Kumar added: "My brother has been telling me that he's fine, but for how long will this go on?"A relative of Gabar Singh Negi, a worker from Kotdwar, who is among those trapped, said that "our family has no other option but to wait...it's important that we do not lose hope."Incidentally, rescue officials are able to establish contact with the workers through a pipe extended in the tunnel at regular intervals.Inside the tunnel, the workers have "some space to move around", but as days go by, oxygen inside is becoming an issue, said a man working to clear the debris.
He added: "Even on regular days, working inside these tunnels is tough due to the many harmful gases and varying temperature.
Survival is getting tougher.
Why couldn't they get these powerful machines to remove the debris earlier?"Watch: Heart-wrenching account of worker trapped in Uttarkashi tunnelThere was also a minor scuffle at the tunnel site between some agitated workers and local officials on Wednesday."Authorities should have taken proper safety measures at the start...
All of this could have been avoided," another worker pointed out.