Rescue and relief operations underway after a portion of a tunnel under construction between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed, in Uttarkashi district (Image: PTI)
The construction workers have been trapped since Sunday when a landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.7-mile) tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 meters (500 feet) from the entrance
The operation to rescue at least 40 labourers trapped inside the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi entered the seventh day on Saturday. So far, rescue workers have managed to drill through up to 24 metres of rubble in the collapsed tunnel till Friday evening. It may require up to 60 meters (195 feet) to enable the trapped workers’ escape.
In its latest update on the rescue operation, the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) said the fifth pipe — being used to prepare an escape passage for the trapped workers — is being positioned.
All Trapped Labourers Fine
All the trapped labourers are also physically and mentally fit so far, with authorities making sure essential supplies like oxygen, medicines, food and water reached the trapped labourers through air-compressed pipes.
“The morale of the people needs to be maintained… The food and water supply and the psychological state of the stuck workers are well… They are being talked to by psychological experts… All of them are fit physically and mentally,” NHIDCL Director Anshu Manish Khalkho said.
Backup Drilling Machine To Reach Rescue Site Today
As per Khalkho, so far, rescue workers have to drill up to 60 metres to insert 800- and 900- millimetre diameter pipes — one after the other — with the help of a giant drill till an escape passage can be created for the labourers stuck behind the collapsed portion of the under-construction tunnel.
Asked why the machine was not able to achieve the expected drilling speed of four to five metres per hour, he said aligning the pipes on the machine and welding those properly before pushing those through takes time.
Khalkho also claimed that the drilling machine being diesel operated is behind the the slow progress.
“It is a diesel-operated machine working in an enclosed space. So ventilation at certain time intervals with compressors is also needed. The vibration created by these processes may disturb the equilibrium,” he said.
“We are working with a strategy but it has to be reinforced to ensure nothing goes wrong midway through,” he said.
The machine has been working satisfactorily and the speed will go up as more progress is made through the rubble and the rescue workers get accustomed to the method, Khalkho added.
Equipment similar to the 25-tonne American-made auger machine now in operation is also being flown in from Indore as “backup” so that the rescue operation continues uninterrupted.
Trapped Workers Talks To Family
Meanwhile, people whose relatives are among the 40 trapped workers are being allowed to speak to them through a pipe inside the tunnel. Two people from Uttar Pradesh were allowed to speak to their kin, who are among the trapped workers.
An official of the Odisha government’s Labour department has also spoken to the state’s workers trapped. Five labourers from Odisha are among the 40 workers who have been trapped there.
The Jharkhand government also sent a team of officials to Silkyara to enquire about the wellbeing of workers from the state who are among the 40 labourers trapped in the collapsed part of an under-construction tunnel.
Earlier, the rescuers had hoped to complete the drilling by Friday night and create an escape tunnel of pipes welded together.
Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse
The construction workers have been trapped since Sunday when a landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.7-mile) tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 meters (500 feet) from the entrance. The hilly area is prone to landslide and subsidence.
The tunnel is part of the busy Chardham all-weather road, a flagship federal project connecting various Hindu pilgrimage sites.
The round-the-clock rescue work is being helmed by 165 personnel from multiple agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Border Roads Organisation and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the State Emergency Operation Centre said.
Source: News18