Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: Rescue Mission Enters 'Crucial Hours', Focus On Horizontal Drilling
The rescue operations to save the 41 workers who have been trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi since November 12 have entered the 'most crucial hours.'
According to officials at the mishap site, time from Tuesday night is the 'most crucial' time, and if everything goes right, some 'good news' will come up in the next 40 hours.
Who are involved in the rescue operation?
Five agencies-- ONGC, SJVNL, RVNL, NHIDCL, and THDCL-- have been assigned specific responsibilities to evacuate the 41 men trapped in the 2-km-built portion of the under-construction tunnel.
After initial setbacks in drilling to lay a set of pipes one after the other to create an escape route for the trapped men, the rescue teams are now taking a different approach to reach them.
Why horizontal drilling?
Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, Member NDMA, in a press briefing, said that the efforts to rescue the trapped men are underway from five sides, but the best possible method is the horizontal drilling from the Silkyara end of the tunnel.
As per the rescue plan, the 900 mm pipes will be pushed in using the horizontal drilling equipment to create an escape for the workers.
"The most focused effort is horizontal drilling through the Auger machine, which is being explored. It started working on November 16, and it has reached 21-22 metres," he said on Tuesday.
The horizontal drilling was halted since Friday as the bearings of the US-made auger machine got damaged after drilling 22 metres through the debris. The heavy-duty machine also encountered a hard boulder.
On Tuesday, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) constructed a new road to the site as the previous one was too narrow for the piling machine to reach there.
Where will horizontal drilling be done??
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) Director Anshu Manish Khulko said on Wednesday that the location for the horizontal drilling has been identified.
"The location for?horizontal?drilling has been identified. Road work for?horizontal?drilling on the hill above the tunnel is almost complete. More than 350 meters of road construction work is complete. BRO is building a road from both Silkyara and Barkot sides, which is almost complete," he said.
How are the trapped workers doing?
Meanwhile, the 41 men, who had been trapped inside the tunnel for 12 days, were provided with solid food for the first time on Tuesday.
They were given veg pulao, matar-paneer, and chapatis slapped with butter for dinner through a food pipe stuck through the collapsed part of the tunnel.
The dinner, prepared under the doctor's supervision with less oil and spices to make it easily digestible, was supplied to the workers in 150 packets.
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