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Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: Manual drilling to begin tomorrow once auger machine is extracted
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said he spoke with the trapped workers and they asked him to not worry about them as they have been doing fine.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday explained the present status of the Silkyara tunnel rescue operation as the 14-day-long work encountered sudden hiccups at the last leg with the auger machine failing once again. The auger machine is expected to be out by tomorrow morning and after that manual digging will begin, the chief minister said adding that he spoke with the construction workers trapped under the tunnel for the last 13 days. "Their morale is high. When I spoke to them, they told me that they were doing fine and getting food," the CM said.
"Do not worry about us. Take your time and safely take us out from here," the construction workers told the CM, as Dhami said.
A plasma cutter is being flown to the site from Hyderabad to cut the auger machine as it got stuck in the tunnel, Pushkar Singh Dhami said.
What happened to the auger machine? Why did it hit hurdles repeatedly?
The US-made high-duty auger machine was deployed for the drilling of the earth at the Silkyara site on November 16, four days after the under-construction tunnel caved in trapping 41 workers inside. Since then, the machine ran into troubles several times as it was drilling through the debris placing pipes through which the trapped men can be rescued. The machine stops working when there is any metal obstruction in its way. The auger machine has to be brought out of the tunnel every time it faces an obstacle.
Manual drilling or vertical drilling?
The operation gathered pace in the middle of this week as the rescuers said the mission entered its final phase. But the final phase had more obstacles for the auger machine than estimated throwing a spanner in the works. While the agencies are ready with the post-rescue plan of how the workers would be quickly put onto stretchers and taken to ambulances parked outside, the rescuers are yet to reach the trapped men.
With the auger machine out of the picture now, the experts are exploring other options like manual drilling of creating a vertical escape passage.
