On 12 November 2023, a section of the Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel, planned to connect National Highway 134 in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, India, caved in while under construction.

[3][4][5][6] Numerous private resources were utilized in the rescue efforts as well, including Australian tunnelling experts Arnold Dix and Chris Cooper.

[7][8] Though the initial attempts at a rescue were complicated because of the kinds of debris created in the collapse, the government brought in "rat-hole" miners who were able to use manual mining methods to get an access pipe to the trapped workers.

The Silkyara Bend–Barkot tunnel was being constructed by contentious[10] Navayuga Engineering Construction Limited (NECL) under National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL)[11] as part of the Char Dham project, intended to connect important Hindu pilgrim sites in Uttarakhand, North India, with two-lane, all-weather paved roads.

[19] The tunnel's location is in proximity to the main central thrust of the Himalayas which is a major geological fault and is generally accepted to be a shear zone.

The Border Roads Organisation said in a statement that the tunnel was being constructed in an extremely weak rock mass constituting meta-siltstone and phyllites.

[32] Dix was called upon by the Indian government to serve as a consultant and spent many days and nights alongside rescue teams outside the tunnel.

[34] On 28 November, "rat-hole" miners in the rescue team broke through the remaining length of debris and pushed a pipe to the trapped workers manually.

On 29 November, the 41 rescued workers were airlifted to AIIMS Rishikesh aboard an Indian Air Force CH-47 Chinook helicopter for further assessment.

[44] President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed relief for the successful rescue and wished the workers good health.