Dehradun: The tunnel has collapsed. Water and silt flood the narrow step.
Deep underground, there are eight men, trapped, unprecedented, invisible. In the mouth of the Srisailam he left the shore channel (SLBC) in Telangana, hundreds of rescuers fight against time, fighting to bring them back.
Among them there are three men who have been there before, and they did. Although in a different catastrophe, in the hills of Uttarakhand.
More than a year ago, they had stayed at the opening of another collapsed tunnel, supervising another desperate mission. Then, also, hope hanging by a thread. Perhaps an entry into the newspaper said: Silkyara, Uttarkashi. 41 men, 17 days.
In the swirl of dust and tension, the men who once challenged the chances in Uttarakhand are fighting to do it again in Telangana, even when they admit that the battle this time is more difficult.
‘In Silkyara we could hear them, here is just silence’
A senior supervisor of the Silkyara Tunnel project, Shashi Bhushan ChauhanNow standing at the SLBC collapse site, he told Toi on Wednesday: “Life has completed the circle for us.” The words hang heavy in the wet air, thick with the smell of wet ground and diesel fumes. His voice is hoarse of exhaustion. It was in November 2023 that Chauhan first became a note to the foot of the story, working with an endless machine in the race to free the workers trapped inside the Silkyara blocked tunnel.
This time, the crisis is different. The SLBC tunnel is narrower, only 33 feet wide compared to the 45 feet of Silkyara. The tunnel drilling machine (TBM) is stuck. Water and mud continue to push. Non-existent. The trapped men are silent. And silence is the worst type of omen in a rescue mission. But Chauhan and his team, a mechanic and an industrial manufacturer of the Navayuga group, do not deal with omens. They take care of steel, sweat and a deep and tacit understanding of what it means to get men from the earth before swallowing them.
“Teamwork feels the same as in Silkyara, all moving forward, driven by a single mission,” said Chauhan. “But there is a crucial difference. In Silkyara, we could hear them. We knew they were there, they were enduring. Here, there is only silence. Without voices, without signs, nothing. That uncertainty makes this even more difficult. We do not know their condition, and that makes every second feel heavier.”
Another rescuer explains why this operation is even more challenging. “The endless machine we use in Silkyara? That is not an option here. There is too much water, too silt. The soil is changing, unpredictable. Desglosse and more water hastened. We clean the slime and fresh mud takes its place. Each step forward feels like a step back.”
Hope, however, comes in the form of men built for the impossible. A team of six members of ‘Rat hole miners‘, The underground warriors who dragged through Silkyara’s debris to take the last workers to a safe place, are ready to descend to the unknown again.
“Our team arrived on Sunday. We are waiting,” says Wakeel Hasan, its leader. “When the time comes, we enter.” Without bravery, without unnecessary words.
Only the quiet and unwavering certainty of the men who have entered into the dark before and came out.