The drilling work to create a vertical escape route for the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand is likely to be completed by November 30, officials said on Monday.
A total of 86 metres have to be drilled vertically to prepare the passage.
"We have completed around 30 meters of drilling. The current machine that has been deployed can drill around 40-45 meters,” National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) Managing Director Mahmood Ahmad said at a press conference, reported ANI.
He informed that two more machines have been brought by SJVN for the vertical drilling work.
“Changeover machines will take time. We are expecting vertical drilling work would be completed by November 30,” Ahmad said.
Authorities began vertical drilling on Sunday as a second option to reach the stranded workers after an augur machine carrying out the horizontal drilling met with multiple snags, and finally broke and got stuck in the debris.
Rescuers are planning to insert pipes of 1.2 metre diameter vertically through the top of the tunnel.
Meanwhile, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain told reporters on Monday that rat-hole miners will start manual digging at the site shortly.
The broken parts of the auger machine have been removed from the rubble with the help of a plasma cutter flown in from Hyderabad, he added.
The government is fully committed to the safe rescue of all the 41 workers who have been trapped in the tunnel, the officer said, adding that both private and public agencies are involved in the rescue operations.
Earlier in the day, a delegation led by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Pramod Kumar Mishra visited the site and took stock of the rescue operation.
