A tunnel which collapsed, trapping 41 workers in the Indian Himalayas this month, did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster said yesterday.
Rescuers are still struggling to reach the construction workers 12 days after the 4.5km tunnel caved in. The men have been getting food, water and medicine through a pipe.
In the days that followed, the government asked a group of experts to investigate what went wrong, look into the construction of the tunnel in Uttarakhand state, and make recommendations for the future. Preliminary findings indicated the collapse may have been caused by a geological fault, known as a “shear zone”, a member of the panel said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.
There was also no escape passage, despite government guidelines recommending emergency exits for tunnels longer than 1.5km, he added. “Once the rescue operations are over, we will conduct detailed investigations to find out loopholes in the construction,” the panel member said.
He declined to comment further before the full investigations were completed.
The tunnel was being built by the state-run National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation which is under India’s ministry of road transport and highways.
A ministry spokesperson, who speaks on behalf of the company, did not respond to a request for comment.
The government said on Wednesday it had ordered the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to audit 29 tunnels being constructed across India.
“Himalayan geology is not as predictable as we generally think,” NHAI member Vishal Chauhan told reporters when asked yesterday if the government could have been better prepared for such an emergency.
“There are multiple obstacles and we are using the best technology to find solutions,” he added.
The tunnel was being built as part of the ambitious, $1.5bn Char Dham project.