Late 2023 saw a tunnel being built for a road collapse in Uttarakhand’s Himalayan ranges. Forty-one construction company employees were left stranded in the mountains for more than a week, leading to one of the most complex rescue operations that India has ever encountered. All of them were rescued alive, but what happened exposed the vulnerabilities in the current systems of infrastructure development in the world’s youngest mountain range.
The investigations that followed showed that warning signs overlooked, geologic study was poorly done, and there was no adjustment of construction techniques. Barely avoiding a similar disaster two years later was a rail tunnel in the same area. Such events have caused a reevaluation of plans for India’s Himalayas.
Why Uttarakhand is of immense importance
This happened in the state of Uttarakhand, which is often called the “Land of the Gods.” It is home to the Chota Char Dham circuit, which is composed of four significant Hindu shrines that are visited by millions of tourists annually. Yet, only a few get to visit it. All of its roads are narrow with one lane, blocked or difficult to access either by heavy rainfall or winter months, with more than half of the state being a high-risk area for landslides.
In answer to this situation, the government undertook a Char Dham road construction project spanning 900 kilometers. “The scheme proposes cutting roads where bergenesis or bottlenecks exist, besides constructing tunnels for bypassing detrimental sections,” explains Thakur. “It is proposed to bypass the worst areas through tunnels.” This seems like fantastic infrastructure work on paper but is hazardous in reality.
During the rescue in the 2023 tunnel:
Silkyara tunnel is a tunnel that is of 4.5 km long, which collapsed at a distance of 270 meters from the southern entrance. As the ends of the tunnel had never met, the only exit of the workers cut off. Their only access to the outside world was via an emergency narrow tunnel that provided oxygen, food, water, and medical services.
All these efforts were attempted concurrently: vertical drilling, excavating from the back, and tunnel boring with a tunnel boring machine from the side of the mine. Of course, the closest attempt at rescue came with the auger drill, which almost reached the trapped men but came no closer than a few feet away. Manual drilling – used for the final step. All 41 men rescued. The project took 17 days.
It was a miracle of success. It is less comforting to look at the causes of the crash.
“The tunnel showed signs of small collapse events and deformations before the final collapse,” said the rescue specialists. “Entering into the tunnel after the collapse, I observed more than 20 signs of previous collapse failure scars,” said Arnold Dix, the international specialist for tunneling.
Later, it came out that the reason for the collapse was negligence of contractors and lax approaches to the practices of tunneling. Deformations were left unchecked, while the support systems were not altered despite evidence of instability. It was given that collapse was neither sudden nor unexpected.
During the rescue in the 2023 tunnel:
Himalayan tunneling can be very challenging. These mountains are resting on active tectonic plates that are riddled with sheer zones, which are zones of weakened rocks that get formed in cases where there is enormous geological stress. This is accompanied by abrupt geologic transitions from hard rocks to soft ancient seabed, which would have moved thousands of meters upwards.
Water ingress is another constantly present danger here. This is because the solid-looking rocks at the top of the mountains could be flowing like fluids deeper inside. Earthquakes, landslides, and floods add to these dangers. It is optional to monitor the terrain here to ensure timely adjustments.
Not an isolated incident
In April 2025, a railway tunnel about 200 km away in the state of Uttarakhand came close to collapse as a rush of water suddenly entered the tunnel at the five km point. Despite efforts by engineers, who managed to save the situation, it is feared that the geology of the area is being taken for granted.
Success stories also exist in India. The Atal Tunnel of 9 kilometers in Rohtang Pass reduced the time taken for travel between Manali to Lahaul-Spiti by more than four hours. This too was no less adventurous, as it involved water inflows of 8,000 liters per minute. Even a 600 meters long tunnel took four years for completion.
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Zojila Tunnel: It is one of the most challenging
Despite learning such important lessons, India is pressing on with numerous projects. In Ladakh, for example, the Zojila Tunnel, which is 13 kilometers long at an elevation of 11,680 feet, is being built, and it is going to be the longest in India, cutting a four-hour journey into a mere 15 minutes.
The engineers are employing the New Austrian Tunnelling Method, which is founded on permanent observation and flexible support systems. No serious disaster occurred yet, but the delays are considerable, as more than 40 percent of the work has been finished, and the deadline is behind schedule by four years.
The Silkyara rescue is one that saved many lives. However, it was also a stern warning that the Himalayas are no mere mountains that stand still. Instead, they are mountains that move, squeeze, and resist. While the ambition of the Indian government to connect their isolated areas is one that is sorely needed, what remains to be seen is whether it is carried out in a way that is safe for the nation until the Himalayas teach it the same lesson again.
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