PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to take stock of the rescue operation to save 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel and stressed on the need to keep their morale up. An international tunnelling expert, Arnold Dix, arrived at the disaster site to review the rescue efforts, now in its ninth day. Dix heads the Geneva-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association. Necessary rescue equipment and resources are being provided by the Centre, and through mutual coordination between Central and State agencies, the trapped workers will be safely evacuated, PM Modi said.

 

FIRST BREAKTHROUGH: PIPELINE PUSHED THROUGH RUBBLE: RESCUERS on Monday pushed through a six-inch-wide pipeline through the rubble of the collapsed Silkyara tunnel, a breakthrough that will help them supply larger quantities of food and possibly allow live visuals of the 41 workers trapped inside for eight days. So far, a four-inch existing tube was being used to supply oxygen and items like dry fruit and medicines into the section of the tunnel beyond the rubble of the collapsed portion of the under-construction tunnel on the Char Dham route in Uttarakhand. National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) director Anshu Manish Khalkho called it the “first breakthrough” at the site. “We have sent the pipe 53 metres to the other side of the rubble and the trapped workers can hear and experience us,” he said.