An overnight hurdle has delayed the rescue operations to evacuate 41 workers trapped in Uttarkashi's Silkyara tunnel by 12 to 14 hours, said Bhaskar Khulbe, former advisor to the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday morning.
After that, it will take three more hours to take out the workers one by one with the help of NDRF, Khulbe said. The workers need to crawl through the 800mm steel pipes stretching for a 57-metre distance.
Khulbe said an iron mesh blocking the path of the drilling machine, creating an escape passage for the workers was removed in the morning.
"It took us six hours to remove it. But the good news is that we have cleared the hurdle which came yesterday after drilling up to 45 metres had been done," PTI quoted Khulbe as saying.
Lack of oxygen and the claustrophobic environment inside the pipe made the rescue operation difficult, he told reporters, adding that the rescue team has resumed welding the pipes as well as drilling through the debris.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Gen V.K. Singh and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General Atul Karwal have arrived in Silkyara for an on-the-spot review of the rescue operations.
The authorities have prepared a 41-bed special ward at the Community Health Centre in Chinyalisaur to treat the evacuated men. A team of 15 doctors, 41 ambulances and a helicopter were deployed to provide swift medical care.
