Big Lapse? Escape Route Was Planned For Uttarakhand Tunnel, But Not Built

The teams are now also coming up with alternative plans to rescue the workers.

Over 160 hours since 41 workers got trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand, a map has emerged that points to an alleged serious lapse on the part of the company involved in its construction. According to the Standard Operating Procedure, all tunnels over 3 km long are supposed to have an escape route to rescue people in case there is a calamity. The map proves that such an escape route was also planned for the 4.5 km Silkyara tunnel, but never executed.

The teams are now also coming up with alternative plans to rescue the workers, who have been stranded inside the tunnel since Sunday morning. 

Family members of the 41 construction workers, most of whom are migrants, are now beginning to worry after the American auger, or drill machine, also stopped working last evening after a loud "cracking sound" was heard in the tunnel. Some of the family members and other workers involved in the construction said the labourers could have been saved by now if the escape route had been built.