Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: Rescue Work Hits Fresh Hurdle In Final Stretch

New Delhi: No progress could be made on Friday to rescue 41 workers trapped inside a tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara for the past 13 days as the drilling could not resume a day after a metal object in the debris damaged the blades of the machine

Drilling still remains to be completed through another 10-12 metres of the debris even after the auger machine has managed to cut through 46.8 metres. Once drilling is complete, evacuation pipes will be installed to bring out the 41 trapped workers, ANI reported.

Senior officials who are part of the evacuation process were quoted as saying that they hope to be able to make contact with the workers today, if they face no more obstacles.

The main problem, officials said, was that the “evacuation pipe” being pushed through the 800mm wide hole being drilled got warped, and the drill machine could no longer cut through.

“The steep pipes had come in the way of the auger machine, and ended up bending the 800mm evacuation pipe we were pushing. The mouth of the other side of pipe ended up getting narrower, and the auger couldn’t push through it. Our team had to chop 1.2m off the pipe which we had pushed into the debris. This process took us around 7-8 hours,” said Neeraj Kharwal, secretary to the Uttarakhand government.