A multi-agency operation is being carried out to rescue 40 workers trapped inside a tunnel in Uttarakhand since yesterday morning.

An under-construction tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district partially collapsed at around 5 am yesterday, leaving 40 workers trapped inside.

The rescue operations are being conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) and the police.

A senior official told NDTV that all 40 workers are safe and are being supplied oxygen through a pipe. “Everyone is safe, we are in constant touch with the trapped workers,” Prashant Kumar said.

Mr Kumar said that communication has been established with the trapped workers and they have been sent water and food items.

He said that the collapsed portion of the tunnel is located about 200 metres from the entrance and about 20 metres of the slab has been removed so far to open the tunnel.

“The team is removing the debris using excavators and other heavy machines,” he said.

The tunnel is meant to connect Silkyara to Dandalgaon in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi. It is being built under the Char Dham Road Project and aims to reduce the journey from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri Dham by 26 kilometres.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami yesterday said that he has been briefed about the rescue operation. “I have been in contact with the officials from the time I got to know about the incident. NDRF and SDRF are at the spot. We pray to God for the safe return of everybody,” he said.

A thick layer of smog engulfed the national capital after people burst crackers on Diwali night, leading to heavy pollution all across the city, which is already battling with its deteriorating air quality.

Visuals from various parts of Delhi showed thick haze covering the roads, significantly reducing visibility and making it difficult to see beyond a few hundred metres.

What is important to note is that the national capital has already been struggling with pollution for the last few weeks. The AQI at many places had peaked in the ‘severe’ category and continued to remain toxic for several days, but after Diwali, it is now very likely that the national capital will once again witness a rise in pollution levels, making it difficult for the people inside the city to breathe.

Recently, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi imposed a complete ban on firecrackers. In wake of the pollution situation, the government even considered the idea of ‘artificial rain’ to tackle the foul air in the city, until sudden rainfall brought a major respite, lowering the pollution level.

The latest posts shared on social media sites and reports have shown that a large number of people at different places have taken part in the burning of firecrackers. Sunday night’s visuals from Lodhi Road, RK Puram, Karol Bagh, and Punjabi Bagh showed intense fireworks lighting up the night sky across several areas in the national capital.

Previous data related to pollution shows that since the last week of October, the national capital’s air quality has been at its worst. The concentration of PM 2.5 in the city has been recorded at 20 times the limit prescribed by the World Health Organisation, prompting the city government to order the closure of all primary classes and restrict the entry of trucks.

Despite the Delhi government’s ‘Diya Jalao, Patakhe nahi’ campaign and the Supreme Court’s order on firecrackers, rising pollution is likely to dim the light in the city after festivity ends.

A Jewish school in Montreal was fired on Sunday for the second time this week as tensions remain high in Canada over the Israel-Hamas war, police said.

Police spokeswoman Veronique Dubuc said no one was in Yeshiva Gedola when shots were heard around 5:00 am (1000 GMT), and there were no reported injuries.

Officers discovered bullet damage to the building’s facade and found cartridges on the ground, Dubuc said.

The incident took place only two days after that school and another Jewish school in Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city, were fired upon, also without casualties.

“The fact that people took the liberty to attack the same target more than once demonstrates the situation’s seriousness,” school spokesman Lionel Perez said during a press conference, adding that classes would continue as usual.

Earlier in the week, a Montreal synagogue suffered minor damage in a firebombing, and three students were injured when pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups clashed at the city’s Concordia University.

Both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Francois Legault, the premier of French-speaking Quebec province, have condemned the violence.

“Let’s not import the hatred and violence that we see elsewhere in the world,” Legault posted on X, formerly Twitter, adding that “all effort will be made to find and punish those guilty.”

Montreal’s Mayor Valerie Plante condemned the “odious gesture” and urged residents to “absolutely fight anti-Semitism.”

“We will not accept Montreal being the scene of such acts,” she said on X.

Several countries around the word, notably in Europe, have seen attacks on Jewish targets amid the intense Israeli strikes on Gaza in response to the bloody October 7 attack by militants of the Palestinian group Hamas.

Some 1,200 people in Israel, most of them civilians, were killed that day, Israeli authorities say.

Health authorities in Gaza say more than 11,100 people, including many children, have died in Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory.