Video: Emotional Sunny Deol hugs Uttarakhand tunnel rescue hero

Sunny Deol hugs the Silkyara tunnel rescue hero.

New Delhi:

Actor Sunny Deol got emotional after hearing the story of a man who helped during the rescue operation at Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarakhand this evening at the NDTV Indian of the Year Awards. NDTV today paid tribute to the Rat Hole miners who played a vital role in the evacuation of 41 workers trapped in the tunnel. One miner has told how they came to the aid of trapped workers when machines were unable to reach them.

“We told them we will complete the work within 24-36 hours. But, in today’s day and age, people trust diplomas more than experience,” the miner said. They also talked about the hardships they experienced every day, even after doing something great.

💫 Watch an emotional Sunny Deol hug Uttarakhand tunnel rescue hero #NDTVIndianOfTheYear

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— New Delhi Television (@ndtv) March 23, 2024

Sunny Deol burst into tears while hearing the story of the real-life hero. He walked up to the podium and hugged the miners. He was later seen taking selfies with them.

41 workers were trapped in a section of the tunnel for 17 days after it collapsed on November 12 last year.

Mouse Hole miners manually drilled the last 15-meter hole in the ruins of the collapsed part of the tunnel to prepare a steel pipe escape passage for the trapped workers. In 2014, the “rat hole” mining process was banned by the Supreme Court for being unsafe and causing environmental pollution.

Rat hole mining was a last-ditch tactic adopted by rescuers after several previous attempts to use an auger to reach the workers failed to achieve the desired results. The larger drill also failed multiple times after hitting metal obstacles, specifically steel rods from collapsed tunnel structures. This forces more pauses when deploying laser cutters.