The rescue operation to evacuate the 40 construction workers trapped 260 metres inside the Silkyara-Barkot under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi entered its fifth day on Thursday.
The workers were trapped after a portion of the under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Dandalgaon on the Yamunotri National Highway (NH) collapsed at around 5:30 am on Sunday.
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Most of these workers are from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal.
Here's what we know about the rescue operation so far:
- A state-of-the-art performance auger drilling machine was brought to Uttarkashi from New Delhi on an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130J aircraft on Wednesday to expedite the rescue operation plans.
- The auger drilling machine has been pressed into service on Thursday morning.
- National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) officials have said that drilling up to six metres has been done so far using the new machine.
- Officials said that they could not predict a timeline due to the possible obstacles in the form of boulders present in the debris. NHIDCL director Anshu Manish Khalko said that loose debris was hampering the rescue efforts.
- Khalko, however, had said they are hopeful of better results. “If we have to drill through 50-60 metres of piled-up debris, it is expected to be completed in around 12 hours,” he said.
- Earlier, an official involved in the rescue operation on the condition of anonymity told HT on Wednesday that the previous auger machine, provided by a Delhi-based company, was not in a good condition and of high quality to drill through the debris inside the tunnel.
- Union Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways VK Singh took stock of the operation on Thursday and said that the government and all its agencies are making all efforts to complete the rescue operation within two to three days.
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- "Government, all its agencies and experts with whom we can communicate--the efforts of all of us are aimed at rescuing the workers at the earliest. I have spoken with them and their morale is high. They understand that all efforts are being made for them and we are weighing all options to rescue them," Singh told reporters in Uttarkashi, according to ANI.
- He also said that the labourers were confined in a space of about 2 kilometres in the debris. Officials are sending them food, water and oxygen via a pipe, the minister added.
- According to officials, a six-bed makeshift health facility has been set up and 10 ambulances with expert doctors are stationed outside the tunnel to provide immediate medical care to the trapped workers after their evacuation, reported PTI.
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- "Government, all its agencies and experts with whom we can communicate--the efforts of all of us are aimed at rescuing the workers at the earliest. I have spoken with them and their morale is high. They understand that all efforts are being made for them and we are weighing all options to rescue them," Singh told reporters in Uttarkashi, according to ANI.
- He also said that the labourers were confined in a space of about 2 kilometres in the debris. Officials are sending them food, water and oxygen via a pipe, the minister added.
- According to officials, a six-bed makeshift health facility has been set up and 10 ambulances with expert doctors are stationed outside the tunnel to provide immediate medical care to the trapped workers after their evacuation, reported PTI.
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