Await rescue 41 trapped workers Drilling stopped again at Uttarkashi tunnel

 

 

 

DRILLING at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel to rescue 41 men trapped inside for 12 days was halted again on Friday, officials said. Officials said, the auger drilling machine faced a hurdle, apparently a metal object, soon after drilling resumed on Thursday, a day after officials had put the operation on hold following a technical snag. That snag was set right earlier in the day and the 25-tonne auger machine was restarted. But after a brief while the operation had to be stopped again in the second setback in two days.

 

The multi-agency rescue effort began on November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed, trapping workers who were still inside. Rescue workers said in the evening that the drill bit has been pulled out through the passage already bored by the machine. Sections of steel pipes had been inserted into the bored passage to allow the trapped men to be pulled out. The effort had reached up to 48.6 metres out of the estimated 57 metres of rubble that blocks the tunnel, officials had said earlier in the day. In Delhi, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Syed Ata Hasnain told reporters that if there are no obstacles, the auger machine should be able to drill about four or five metres in an hour. It takes additional time to weld sections of the steel pipe together as they are pushed into the drilled passage.

 

The NDRF operation that will begin once the chute is ready is expected to take about three more hours. Officials warn that unforeseen hurdles can crop up anytime. Earlier in the morning, former Advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office Bhaskar Khulbe had said the boring through the rubble with an auger was likely to resume by 11.30 am. “We have 12-14 metres more to go. And I hope if all goes well we might conclude the operation by Friday evening,” he had predicted. Garhwal range IG KS Nagnyal told PTI that arrangements are in place to take the rescued workers to medical centres under police escort through a “green corridor” Road Transport and Highways Minister V K Singh, who has been camping in Uttarkashi since Thursday, visited the Silkyara site to take stock of the rescue operation. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has been staying at nearby Matli and visited the disaster site again on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked to Dhami once again for updates.