Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: Evacuation work on,helicopter ready to airlift

Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: Evacuation work on,helicopter ready to airlift

Uttarakhand: Rat-hole mining specialists engaged in rescuing 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi initiated manual drilling through the debris on Monday. In the latest updates, the manual horizontal drilling has been achieved and the workers would be out anytime soon.

Around 1:30 pm on Tuesday, Bansi Dhar Tiwari, the state government’s information department, announced the completion of drilling. Shortly after, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami confirmed on social media that the escape pipe had been laid into the drilled passage, expressing optimism about bringing out all workers soon.

At least 12 rat-hole mining experts were tasked with horizontally drilling through the final 10- to 12-meter stretch of debris in the collapsed section of the under-construction tunnel on the Char Dham route in Uttarakhand. The alternative drilling approach was adopted after a large auger machine became stuck on Friday. Approximately 40 per cent of the necessary 86-meter vertical drilling has been completed.

Anticipation had been building up at the disaster site on the Char Dham route hours before the news broke outside.
“The food (for the trapped workers) is being sent along with the ambulance. Aloo gobhi, roti, dal and rice is in the menu today,” said Vikas Rana, Assistant HR at Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Company Limited, the company constructing the tunnel.