Nine bodies were pulled out from the rubble of a landslide which hit one end of an under-construction tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway two days ago, taking the death toll in the incident to 10 on Saturday, officials said.
With the bodies of all the missing workers recovered, the two-day rescue operation ended late on Saturday evening. Three persons who survived were taken to hospital by the rescuers shortly after the incident on the intervening of Thursday and Friday.
Earlier, the officials had said that a portion of the under-construction tunnel at Khooni Nallah in Ramban district collapsed soon after the work on the project started.
But on Saturday, the deputy commissioner of Ramban Mussarat Islam quoted the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to say that a landslide had hit the mouth of the adit tunnel to T4.
“As clarified by NHAI, it is informed that there is no tunnel collapse near Khooni Nallah. A slide occurred on the mouth of the adit tunnel to T4 on Thursday night under which a labourer component of concessionaire company was working. Operation continues,” Islam tweeted.
The body of one person was recovered on Friday, while three others, including two locals, were rescued and are stable.—GK
