Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse Latest News: 20 Metres Drilled Vertically, 180m Alternative Escape Tunnel Also in Plan

Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse Latest News: Efforts to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi entered the 15th day on Monday. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is working to retrieve broken parts of the auger machine while manual and vertical drilling are also being done to make an escape route for the trapped workers.

Meanwhile, two BRO officials were injured after their SUV was hit by a private bus near the Silkyara tunnel site on Sunday afternoon, police said. The accident occurred just half a kilometre away from the tunnel, when three Border Roads Organisation (BRO) officials were on the way to the site in their official vehicle.

Vertical Drilling Underway

Rescuers are drilling into the hill above the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel and had bored nearly 20 metres on the first day of adopting the new approach on Sunday. Rescue workers have to drill down 86 metres to reach the tunnel.

National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) managing director Mahmood Ahmed said vertical boring would be over by Thursday if there are no hurdles.

As the drilling progresses, 700-mm wide pipes are being inserted to create an escape passage. A little distance away, a thinner, 200-mm probe is being pushed in. It has reached the 70-metre mark.

Rescuers Working On 5 Evacuation Routes

The vertical approach was one of the at least five options on which preparatory work had begun some days back, as anxiety mounted over the fate of the men trapped in the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand’s Char Dham route.

The vertical boring option was picked as the next best alternative after the latest in a series of snags that hit the horizontal drilling operation from the tunnel’s Silkyara-end, where an estimated 60-metre stretch of rubble faced rescue workers.

Silkyara Tunnel Collapse Latest Updates

• A portion of the Silkyara tunnel collapsed on Diwali morning, cutting off the exit of the 41 workers inside. The trapped workers are in a built-up two-kilometre stretch of the tunnel. They are being sent food, medicines and other essentials through a six-inch wide pipe. A communication system has also been set up and families occasionally talk to them.
• A huge auger drill a corkscrew like-device with a rotary blade at the front-end that is drilling into this stretch of debris got stuck Friday evening, forcing officials to give up on the 25-tonne machine.
• Individual workers have been entering this incomplete escape passage in which a steel chute has been inserted to cut through and bring the stuck blades and the auger’s shaft out in pieces.
• Sunday morning, a plasma cutter was airlifted from Hyderabad to supplement the gas cutter. A team from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Army engineers from the Madras Sappers also reached Silkyara.
• Only 8.15 metres of the 47 metres of the auger shaft that had been pushed into the debris remained to be cut and removed, officials said.
• Once the auger is completely extricated, rescuers will adopt another fresh approach – manual drilling to clear the remaining 10 or 12 metre stretch of rubble.
• One worker would enter the steel chute laid so far and operate the drill, and another man send the debris out through a pulley in a time-consuming operation to be carried out in confined space.
• Meanwhile, work on other options is also in progress, officials said.
• From Tuesday, rescue workers will start drilling a 180-metre alternative escape tunnel into the side of the hill. This could take 12-14 days.
• Officials said drilling is also being carried out from the Barkot-end of the tunnel, and the work has progressed about 10 out of 483 metres. This approach could take up to 40 days of drilling, officials said.
• At his media briefing in Delhi, NDMA member Lt Gen (retd) Ata Syed Hasnain said the best option remained horizontal drilling under which 47 metres of rubble has already been bored through.
• Relatives of those trapped inside remained anxious after drilling with the auger machine was abandoned.
• Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways V K Singh also visited the disaster site again on Sunday.
• Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met the family of trapped worker Pushkar Singh Eiri at his home in Tanakpur, assuring them everyone will be brought out safely.