Anand Mahindra prays for rescue of 41 trapped workers in Uttarkashi tunnel, says 'NDRF heroes will bring them out soon'

Anand Mahindra on Wednesday offered prayers for the safe rescue of the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel and hoped fervently that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel carrying out the operation will be able to successfully bring them home.

Calling the NDRF personnel "heroes", the Mahindra Group chairman said that he knows that "they will bring them out as soon as possible."

"Our collective, national prayers for their rescue. The @NDRFHQ are heroes & I know they will bring them out as soon as possible," he wrote in his tweet.



The workers found themselves trapped in the tunnel following a landslide on Diwali (November 12). Rescue teams at the site have said that the workers trapped inside the tunnel are expected to be out in the next couple of hours. The tunnel, part of the centre's ambitious Char Dham project, is located between Silkyara and Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand, on the road proposed to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri. Work on the 4.5 km tunnel has been mostly completed.

Earlier on Thursday morning, RD Dwivedi, Chief Scientist and tunnel expert from Roorkee Research Centre, reached the Silkyara tunnel site where the rescue operation is under way to bring out the trapped workers. Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami is also at the Silkyara tunnel site where the rescue operation is going on.

A 41-bed hospital has also been kept ready at the Community Health Centre in Chinyalisaur for medical examination and care of trapped workers after they are evacuated from the tunnel in Uttarkashi. The 41 men have been inside the tunnel for 12 days now, during which they have only received a couple of proper meals.

The tunnel, part of the Char Dham project, is located between Silkyara and Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand, on the road proposed to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri. Work on the 4.5-km tunnel has been mostly completed.

Prayers are also being offered at a temple that has been built at the main entrance of the tunnel where rescue operations is ongoing.