15 J'khand workers rescued from Silkyara tunnel taken to Dehradun

Fifteen Jharkhand workers, who were rescued from Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi on Tuesday night along with 26 others, reached Uttarakhand capital Dehradun on Thursday from where they will be airlifted to Delhi, an official said.

The workers along with their family members, who had been camping in Uttarkashi for over 10 days, will be flown to Delhi and then airlifted to Ranchi, the official said.

Jharkhand government officers are in touch with their Uttarakhand counterparts and a three-member team from the state had rushed to the spot soon after the tunnel collapse on Diwali.

''Today, all the 15 workers and their family members reached Dehradun from AIIMS, Rishikesh. From there, they will be flown to Ranchi via Delhi,'' a labour department official said.

The workers were taken to AIIMS Rishikesh for health check up on Wednesday, officials added. On Wednesday, Jharkhand labour secretary Rajesh Kumar Sharma had said as soon as the workers are released from hospital, the government will fly them from Dehradun to Delhi and then to Ranchi.

The 41 workers, belonging to Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam, were rescued from the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi after a gruelling 17-day operation.