From the Silkyara side, 2,340 meters of construction was nearly over. And from Barkot, 1,600 meters was constructed. The collapsed tunnel section was situated 270 meters from the Silkyara entrance, the debris from the collapse formed a 60 meters thick wall. Fortunately, since 2,000 meters of the tunnel was already constructed, the trapped labourers had a space of 2,000 meters to stretch their legs.
Fortunately, they weren’t trapped in a small space. The height of the enclosure they were trapped in was 8.5 meters. Typically, incidents of this nature are classified as “Act of God”, signifying that it was a natural disaster.
However, the degree to which these events are influenced by natural and human factors is a subject of ongoing discussion. As per the government’s press release, the workers were engaged in reprofiling work, a process involving adjustments to the tunnel structure.
This activity becomes necessary when the surrounding rocks exhibit unexpected behaviours that went unnoticed previously. The exact cause of the collapse will remains unknown until further research.
However, preliminary findings suggest this collapse was due to a potential geological fault known as the Shear Zone. This refers to a thinner or weaker part of the Earth’s crust. The construction would have put a strain on the surrounding rocks, leading to a landslide.
