Ramban tunnel collapse: All 10 bodies found, families informed, say officials

Ramban rescue work was suspended yesterday because of 'shooting stones - large and small rocks and debris that come hurtling down a hillside due to inclement weather conditions.

All ten bodies have been recovered from the debris of an under-construction tunnel that collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban on Thursday. Ten labourers were trapped after a section of a tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway caved-in, triggering large-scale rescue ops by teams of police, the Army and state and national disaster response forces.

Ramban: Rescue operation underway on the second consecutive day to save labourers trapped under debris following the collapse of an under-construction tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway, near Magarkote in Ramban district, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (PTI Photo) (PTI05_21_2022_000083A) (PTI)

"All 10 bodies are recovered and families have been informed. Five of 10 bodies are from West Bengal. This operation is complete. Bodies shifted to hospital," district official Mussarat Islam was quoted by news agency ANI.

"One more body was seen… machines have been (used) to remove the boulder… we are nearing the end of this rescue op," Ramban district police superintendent Mohita Sharma said, adding that those could be rescued would be saved and all bodies would be recovered.

The first body - a labourer from Bengal - was found on Friday.

The audit tunnel of T3 on the highway near Khooni Nallah in Ramban district caved in at the start of work at 10.15 pm on Thursday.

GALLERY: Ramban tunnel collapse photos

Rescue work began immediately but was briefly suspended yesterday because of 'shooting stones - large and small rocks and debris that come hurtling down a hillside due to landslides or other inclement weather conditions.

The debris was the result of a nearby landslide - part of a mountain in the Makerkote area collapsed and forced a temporary break in rescue operations.

The collapse was captured on camera in a video posted by news agency ANI.

Islam told ANI that incident was unexpected and that up to 17 hours of rescue work had been affected. Two heavy machines were also trapped.

Of the trapped labourers five - Jadav Roy (23), Gautam Roy (22), Sudhir Roy (31), Dipak Roy (33) and Parimal Roy (38) - are from Bengal, two - Muzaffar (38) and Israt (30) - are from J&K and one – Shiva Chouhan (26) is from Assam. Nawaraj Chowdhury (26) and Kushi Ram (25) - are from Nepal

J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha is overseeing operations from a control room, PTI reported.

With input from ANI, PTI