The ongoing drilling work to reach the 40 trapped workers inside the Silkyara tunnel was halted on November 18 after the rescuers bored 25 metres into the rubble, a top official said.
The workers have been trapped for six days, counting Saturday, after a portion of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel caved in on November 12.
Speaking to the media over the telephone, Anshu Manish Khulko, director of the tunnel-making company NHIDCL, said the drilling work to reach the trapped workers is suspended for now.
Asked if the drilling work was stopped due to a snag in the machine being used in the rescue operation, Anshu Manish Khulko added, “There was no fault in the machine.”
#WATCH | Uttrakhand: Uttarkashi tunnel rescue | Drone visuals from the Silkyara tunnel which collapsed in Uttarkashi on November 12. pic.twitter.com/K0y7sj6hUg
— ANI (@ANI) November 18, 2023
“The work on enabling the insertion of a pipeline to extricate the trapped workers had been ongoing over the last three days. Only 25 metres of the pipe-laying work has been completed so far,” he informed.
He also said the managing director of NHIDCL is expected to reach the incident site on November 18 and will share further details after taking stock of the ongoing rescue work.
On November 17, the Auger machine engaged in the drilling work stopped functioning after it hit a rock face. However, the machine started working again in the afternoon.
Another heavy-duty drilling machine requisitioned from Indore in Madhya Pradesh is likely to reach the tunnel site later on November 18.
The under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed in the early hours of November 12.
In a statement released to media on November 16, the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, the firm building the tunnel, said excavation with shotcreting (concrete spraying) for 40 metres of the collapsed tunnel is under progress, and a cavity has been formed 10 metre above the crown at both left and right side, and a chimney formation has started along the tunnel.
An additional shotcrete machine has been shifted from RVNL Package-all to the work site, the statement added.
The 4531-metre Silkyara Tunnel is part of the Chardham Project of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and will link the Gangotri and Yamunotri axis under the Radi pass area.
The tunnel is being constructed by NHIDCL through Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd at a cost of Rs 853.79 crore.
(with inputs from ANI)
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