Deputy Secretary in Prime Minister’s Office Mangesh Ghildiyal visited the under-construction Uttarkashi tunnel on Saturday to review the progress of the rescue mission. The rescue mission has been suspended since Friday afternoon following a snag in the drilling machine.
Ghildiyal interacted with officials about the rescue efforts and visited the collapse site. 40 workers got trapped in the under-construction tunnel, being constructed as part of the ambitious Char Dham all-weather road project, after it collapsed on Sunday. The 30-metre collapsed section is 270 metres from the mouth of the tunnel from the Silkyara side.
According to reports, a high-performance drilling machine airlifted from Indore in Madhya Pradesh has already landed at the Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun and is being transported by road to Silkyara where it will be unloaded and assembled before being deployed for drilling, PTI reported.
By the time the operation was suspended on Friday afternoon, the heavy-duty auger machine had drilled up to 24 metres through the rubble spread over a 60-metre area inside the tunnel.
“Around 2.45pm on Friday, during the positioning of the fifth pipe, a loud cracking sound was heard in the tunnel after which the rescue operation was suspended,” a statement issued by the NHIDCL late on Friday night said. Anshu Manish Khulko, director of NHIDCL told ANI that the rescue operation has been suspended and added “there was no fault in the machine”.
A heavy-duty drilling machine requisitioned from Indore is likely to reach the tunnel site later on Saturday, ANI reported.
Renowned micro tunneling expert Chris Cooper has also reached the site and reviewing rescue operations.
The sound created panic among the rescue team. An expert involved with the project warned about the possibility of further collapse in the vicinity. Subsequently, the pipe-pushing activity was stopped, PTI reported.
The Indian Air Force on Friday airlifted almost 22 Tonnes of critical equipment from Indore to Dehradun as part of the mission.
Earlier today, Odisha government officials reached the tunnel site and interacted with workers trapped in the tunnel from the state. The officials said they will be camping in Uttarkashi until the completion of the rescue operation.