Feroze Qureshi and Monu Kumar, experts
in the rat-hole mining technique, were the first to see and feel the happiness
of the 41 labourers rescued from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand after they
cleared the last bit of the rubble inside the structure.
All the 41 workers were rescued after 17
days of a multi-agency operation conducted by the Central and State governments
on the evening of Tuesday.
Qureshi from Delhi and Kumar from Uttar
Pradesh were part of a 12-member team of rat-hole mining technique experts, who
were called to do the drilling after an American auger machine came across
hurdles while clearing the rubble, on Sunday.
“They (the labourers) could hear us when
we reached the last portion of the rubble. Soon after removing the rubble, we
got down to the other side,” said Qureshi, a resident of Delhi’s Khajoori Khas.
“The labourers thanked and hugged me.
They also lifted me on their shoulders,” he said, adding that he was happier
than the rescued workers.
Qureshi is an employee of the
Delhi-based Rockwell Enterprises and an expert in tunnelling work.
“They (the labourers) gave me almonds
and asked my name. Soon, our other colleagues joined us and we were there for
about half an hour,” said Kumar, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.
He said the National Disaster Response
Force (NDRF) personnel went inside the tunnel after them. “We came back only
after the NDRF personnel arrived,” Kumar said.
“We are very happy that we were part of
this historic operation,” he added.
The leader of the 12-member team from
Rockwell Enterprises, Wakeel Hassan, said he was approached for help by a
company involved in the rescue operation four days ago.
“The work got delayed while removing the
portion of the auger from the rubble. We started at 3 pm on Monday and finished
the work at 6 pm on Tuesday,” Hassan said, adding, “We assured the work would
be finished in 24 to 36 hours and that is what we did.”
He also said they did not charge any
money for taking part in the rescue operation.
PTI
