Jammu tunnel collapse: Death toll rises to nine

Police lodge an FIR against the construction company for alleged negligence

Locals gather at the site during a rescue operation after a portion of an under-construction tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway collapsed near Magarkote in Ramban district

PTI Picture

TT Correspondent   |    Srinagar   |  22.05.22  : Rescuers on Saturday recovered eight more bodies of trapped workers, including the four missing labourers from Bengal, from the debris of a tunnel that caved in on Thursday night on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban.

Officials said there were bleak chances of survival of the only last remaining trapped worker. 

The recovery of bodies has taken the toll to nine, of which five are workers from Dhupguri block of Jalpaiguri district in Bengal.

Police have lodged an FIR against the construction company for alleged negligence.   

Relatives and acquaintances of two local missing youths thronged the spot on Saturday in the hope that they would be rescued. Earlier, the officials had said that a portion of the under-construction adit tunnel of the main T4 tunnel collapsed soon after work on the project started. 

But on Saturday, Ramban deputy commissioner Musarrat 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.     

Islam said they were in touch with the Bengal government. Officials said the rescue operation was resumed early on Saturday to find out the nine missing labourers. The operation was suspended on Friday night after a landslide hit the spot around 5pm. 

Ramban SSP Mohita Sharma said they had recovered nine bodies and one worker was still believed to be trapped in the rubble.

“We are struggling to find out the body of the last remaining trapped worker who is believed to be present at the spot,” an official said. “The operation was very challenging as the spot is infamous for landslides and shooting stones. The rescuers had a miraculous escape when a landslide hit the spot on Friday afternoon because of which the operation could resume only today (Saturday).”

Those trapped inside the tunnel were identified as Jadav Roy, Gautam Roy, Dipak Roy and Parimal Roy from Bengal, Shiva Chouhan from Assam, Navaraj Chaudhary and Kushi Ram Chaudhary from Nepal and Mohammad Muzaffar and Mohammad Ishrat, residents of Marog district in Ramban.