The death toll from a devastating accident in a tunnel under construction for a hydropower project in Namchi district of India’s Sikkim state has risen to 22.
Rescuers had recovered the bodies of 22 workers from the rubble as of Thursday, July 23. Teams are still working day and night to find those missing.
The explosion happened inside the tunnel shortly after midday on Monday. It is initially believed that flammable gas trapped within the rock escaped and caused the blast. The tunnel collapsed moments later and the whole area filled with toxic fumes. Twenty-five workers were inside at the time, all of them trapped deep in the tunnel.
A state government official said specialist rescue teams, the administration and all relevant agencies were carrying out the operation jointly. The hostile conditions inside the tunnel, the collapsed rock and the toxic gas have made the operation extremely risky, but every effort to find the missing continues.
The Sikkim government said the whole situation was being monitored around the clock, and that the administration was working to stand by the affected families and ensure all necessary support for the rescue effort.
Eight of the bodies recovered so far have been identified. Four of them are from Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal, with one worker each identified from Punjab, Uttarakhand, Assam and Sikkim. Sources said several workers from various districts of Jharkhand were also working on the project.
The project authorities have announced compensation for the families of the dead, saying the next of kin of each worker killed will receive 500,000 rupees. Sikkim’s chief minister has announced 400,000 rupees for each bereaved family and 50,000 rupees for each of the injured, while India’s prime minister has announced 200,000 rupees for relatives of the dead and 50,000 rupees for the injured.
In a statement, the project authorities said flammable gas trapped inside the rock escaped suddenly and caused the explosion, filling the tunnel with dense smoke and toxic gas and leaving the workers no chance to get out.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report