Tunnel collapse: Preparations to evacuate trapped workers in final stage, says CM
Medical equipment reached the site as efforts to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi continued on the 12th day on Thursday.
Rescue efforts to reach the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand seem to be running into rough weather as the operation was halted due to the detection of steel girdles and iron rods in the escape passage, officials said on Friday.
The rescue operation could not be resumed for 20 hours after it was halted Thursday afternoon. The rescuers, however, said the work will now go on unhindered as all hurdles were cleared and thermal imaging radar detected no blockades ahead.
On the ground, NDRF and SDRF technicians are trying to cut and clear steel girdles and iron rods that obstructed the auger machine work. Apart from this, experts are also working to reset the launch-stage of the auger machine that was unsettled due to reoccurring hurdles caused by the metallic girdles under the debris.
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Talking to The Statesman, a senior official said the rescue efforts are in the final stage and the workers will “see the light at the end of the dark tunnel literally”. He said the special radar was employed to scan the debris profile ahead of 46 meters for which drilling and insertion of MS steel pipe was completed.
Nearly 60 meters escape passage has to be made to reach the trapped workers, he said.
“We have been told that thermal scanning of debris profile was done with the help of a special radar to detect metallic or any other hard obstacles on the planned drilling path. Apparently, no obstacle has been detected in remaining part of the debris,” Superintendent of Police, Uttarkashi, Arpan Yaduvanshi said.
Horizontal drilling by US-made auger machine at Silkayara village end of the tunnel hardly moved ahead by 1.8 meters since November 22 when 45 meters of escape passage work was completed.
As many as 41 construction workers are trapped on the other side of the tunnel for more than 12 days as a portion of it collapsed following a landslide on November 12.
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