Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: The rescue operation has entered into the 16th day as 41 workers are still trapped inside in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand. The tunnel collapsed due to a landslide. Authorities are working on new ways to rescue after the main rescue plan is facing major delay. Rescuers were drilling horizontally until now, to create a hole through the rocks to allow 41 men to crawl through. On Friday, the operation faced a major setback as the drilling machine broke down, halting the rescue operation.Since the beginning of the operation, the rescuers faced challenges due to the presence of big boulders, loose soil, and metal inside the tunnel. Until Friday, the rescuers made steady progress when the drilling machine broke down after pieces of metal struck with the debris forcing the removal of the machine on Monday morning. #WATCH | Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue | Lieutenant General (Retd.) Syed Ata Hasnain, Member, NDMA, says, Using the auger machine is not an option again as the auger was continuously getting stuck and the process of extracting it out was taking a lot of time. The… pic.twitter.com/gvN6YNUkdj— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2023In the meantime, rescuers have started to dig vertically to find alternative routes to rescue the trapped man. The authorities have confirmed that they are also exploring other techniques to reach faster.Vertical drillingAs per the current plan, the rescuers will be trying to reach the workers from the top of the hill, under which the tunnel is being constructed in Silkyara of Uttarkashi.The official said that at the given pace, the rescue operations may take 100 hours if no other challenges come our way.#WATCH | Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue | Lieutenant General (Retd.) Syed Ata Hasnain, Member, NDMA, says, ...The broken part of the auger machine and debris have been removed from the main horizontal approach from the Silkyara end of the tunnel. We expect manual probing… pic.twitter.com/EqJPoruINc— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2023However, bad weather, approaching thunderstorms and the possibility of snowfall can complicate the operation. Perpendicular drillingAuthorities had been attempting to create a micro-tunnel through which the workers might be taken out on stretchers by inserting several pipes of varying diameters through the estimated 60-meter (197-foot) rubble wall.In order to make a detour to reach the workers, they now also intend to drill 180 meters perpendicular to the main drilling site.To get to the workers, the rescuers will need to dig down 86 meters (282 feet), which is almost twice as far as the horizontal path (46.6 meters). The officials confirmed that the drilling process can be completed in another 100 hours if everything goes as per the calculations.Manual diggingThe alternative plan to rescue is manual digging. Just 12 meters remained to be drilled horizontally when the auger machine malfunctioned on Friday. Earlier, rescuers dug 34 meters manually.Recue Operations underway at the #SilkyaratunnelManual digging/drilling to begin shortly#UttarakhandTunnelCollapse #UttrakhandTunnelCollapse #TunnelCollapse #TunnelRescue pic.twitter.com/aUyvW4agzZ— Dibyendu Mondal (@dibyendumondal) November 27, 2023The operation was halted on Monday morning when the emergency personnel managed to extract the machine from the tunnel.
