Uttarakhand Tunnel Rescue LIVE: Breakthrough Achieved, CM Dhami Says 'Workers to Be Out Soon'

Uttarakhand tunnel rescue LIVE Updates: Uttarakhand CM Dhami announces completion of pipe-laying; worker evacuation set to commence soon.

Uttarakhand tunnel rescue LIVE Updates: Rat-hole mining specialists engaged in rescuing 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi initiated manual drilling through the debris on Monday. In the latest updates, the manual horizontal drilling has been achieved and the workers would be out anytime soon.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel along with other rescue operatives gather near the face of the collapsed under construction Silkyara tunnel in the Uttarkashi district of India's Uttarakhand state, on November 28, 2023.

At least 12 rat-hole mining experts were tasked with horizontally drilling through the final 10- to 12-meter stretch of debris in the collapsed section of the under-construction tunnel on the Char Dham route in Uttarakhand. The alternative drilling approach was adopted after a large auger machine became stuck on Friday. Approximately 40 per cent of the necessary 86-meter vertical drilling has been completed.

As of Monday evening, the remaining portion of the stuck auger was successfully cut out piece by piece, and a steel pipe was inserted further into the partially completed escape passage. Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in Delhi, mentioned that vertical drilling, initiated on Sunday, has already reached a depth of 36 meters.

The rescuers aim to extract workers through this one-meter-wide shaft once it penetrates the top of the tunnel below, ideally by Thursday. Simultaneously, an eight-inch wide shaft, drilled from a nearby point, has reached approximately 75 meters down. This secondary probe, expected to serve as a supply line for the trapped workers, indicates no significant geological obstacles so far, according to statements from the NDMA member and Silkyara officials.

Nov 28, 2023 02:51 PM IST