The work to drill steel pipes through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel at Uttarkashi was hindered by a fresh landslide on Tuesday night. Two rescue workers were injured in the melee.
The injured workers were rushed to the makeshift hospital established on the site to attend to the trapped workers, reported PTI.
However, the work to push through the 900-mm diameter steel pipes to create an escape passage for the 40 trapped labourers will continue on Wednesday morning. Rescue personnel spent Tuesday preparing a platform for the auger machine to drill through the rubble.
However, the unexpected landslide caused fresh soil to fall from above. This caused a stampede-like situation leaving two labourers injured. Their injuries were said to be minor.
The drilling is being carried out with the help of an auger machine and the entire work is being monitored by Deepak Malik, general manager of the Uttarakhand Drinking Water Corporation. An expert in drilling and boring works, Malik is leading the technical aspect of the work.
"If everything goes as planned, the trapped labourers will be evacuated by Wednesday," Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela told reporters after visiting the site.
Work to insert 800-900 mm diameter MS pipes through the rubble progressing inside Silkyara tunnel | PTI
The strategy
The plan is to push through both 800- and 900-millimetre diameter sections of mild steel pipes -- one after the other -- into the rubble using drilling equipment and create an escape passage for the workers. All the workers are safe and are being provided with oxygen, water, food packets and medicines through tubes.
However, one of the trapped workers reported feeling nauseous after which medicines were supplied.
There are eight 900-millimetre diameter pipes with a length of six metres each and five pipes of 800-millimetre diameter of the same length, the State Emergency Operation Centre said.
Visuals from Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand as rescue operations continue to rescue 40 workers trapped inside an under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway that collapsed on Sunday morning.#Uttarakhandtunnelcollapse pic.twitter.com/qk0PeNwTZP
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 15, 2023
A part of the tunnel being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway caved in on Sunday following a landslide. The 30-metre collapsed section is 270 metres from the mouth of the tunnel from the Silkyara side, the State Emergency Operation Centre in Dehradun said.
Navyuga Engineering Company Limited official GL Nath appealed to everyone not to enter the tunnel and disrupt the rescue efforts. "Only those whose services or help is needed in the ongoing rescue operations should enter the tunnel. Local political leaders are disturbing us a lot by frequenting the tunnel. I appeal to them not to do so. Our priority is to safely evacuate the trapped workers," he said.
