Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue: The operation to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara Tunnel of Uttarkashi for the last 15 days continues for the 16th day on Monday (27 November). However, the rescue team is facing new challenges every day while digging the tunnel, due to which the operation is taking a little more time.
Let us know what has happened so far?
- National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) Managing Director Mahmood Ahmed said on Sunday that a total of 19.2 meters of vertical drilling has been completed. He said, “We have to drill about 86 meters within four days i.e. by November 30. Hopefully there will be no further hindrances and the work will be completed on time.”
- The National Disaster Management Authority also said that 86 meters of vertical drilling is required to reach the layer of the Uttarkashi tunnel, where 41 workers are trapped.
- As drilling progresses, 700 mm wide pipes are being inserted to make way. A short distance away, a thin, 200-mm probe is being pushed in. It has reached the 70-meter mark.
- Yesterday, a plasma cutter was airlifted from Hyderabad to supplement the gas cutter. By evening, only 8.15 meters of the 47 meters of auger shaft driven into the debris remained to be cut and removed.
- From Tuesday, rescue workers will start drilling a 180-metre alternative escape tunnel into the side of the hill. This may take 12-14 days. Once the auger is completely removed, rescue workers will use another new method to clear the remaining 10 or 12 meters of debris – manual drilling. One worker would enter the steel chute laid so far and operate the drill, and the other person would send the debris out through a winch.
- Another drilling is being done from the Barcot-end of the tunnel, and the work has progressed about 10 meters out of 483 metres. Drilling with this method may take up to 40 days.
- A unit of Madras Sappers, an engineer group of the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers, has been called to the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi for manual drilling at the site.
- For manual drilling, the Indian Army along with the civilians will do rat boring inside the tunnel. The Indian Army, along with the civilians, will dig out the debris inside the tunnel with weapons like hands, hammer and chisel and then the pipe will be moved forward from the platform built inside the pipe.
- The Uttarakhand government is supplying medicines and salt as well as fruits like orange, apple, banana etc. to the stranded workers. A modified communication system with wire connectivity developed by SDRF is being used for regular communication.
- Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh again visited the disaster site on Sunday. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the family of stranded worker Pushkar Singh Airi at his home in Tanakpur.
Let us tell you that on November 12, on the eve of Diwali festival, a part of the tunnel under construction on Char Dham road in Uttarakhand collapsed after a landslide, blocking the exit for the workers inside. The workers are in a two kilometer long section of the tunnel.
