What tunnelling expert Arnold Dix, rescuers are up to after Uttarkashi op. Watch

The Silkyara tunnel site – the centre of restless action, continuous VIP movement – is now deserted as the 41 workers were rescued successfully.

Eighteen days after the gruelling rescue operation, the Uttarkashi tunnel site which became a mini village in the last few days wore a deserted look on Thursday. The family members of the trapped workers were camping at the site, and a makeshift temple was set up as the rescuers were pressed into the service of the mammoth task. Now the lull will remain until construction work resumes at the site. A cop on Thursday said the construction work will remain suspended for a few days. Many construction workers -- those who got trapped -- may not want to return to the site and a safety audit is also pending.

The rescuers celebrated with a little dance after the mission to save 41 construction workers concluded with success.

Meanwhile, international tunnelling expert Arnold Dix who was flown in to guide the entire operation shared a sneak peek of what the rescuers did after the operation was over. The members of the SDRF along with Arnold broke into a little dance accompanied by a local pahadi song celebrating the success of the operation which according to Arnold Dix was nothing but a miracle.

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The site became the centre of a lot of action as heavy machinery including the auger machine was deployed along with the constant presence of a huge workforce and the regular VIP movement. Since Wednesday morning, members of the rescue team were seen packing up their machines which were brought from various parts of the country as the rescuers kept on deliberating alternative measures whenever they were stuck.

As the 41 men waited to be rescued, the operation first started with an auger machine but to speed things up, a US-made auger machine was brought in. As it faced technical snags, machines to cut its wings and bring it out from the tunnel were brought in. Vertical drilling, blasting from the other end of the tunnel all were tried while the breakthrough came when rat-hole miners manually dug the last few kilometres of the tunnel.