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Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: Drilling likely to resume today- Top updates

Tunneling Expert Arnold Dix said that efforts are constantly made to reach the 41 trapped workers and the rescuers are ‘just metres away’ from finding passage to have the workers back.

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Edited By: Alina Khan
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Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue

ANI

The rescue operation at the Uttarkashi tunnel collapse has been paused again due to a technical snag in the auger drilling machine. The platform on which the equipment is mounted developed some cracks when the rescue operations were in its final stage yesterday.

Speaking to ANI, International Tunneling Expert Arnold Dix said that efforts are constantly made to reach the 41 trapped workers and the rescuers are ‘just metres away’ from finding a passage to have the workers back.

Earlier, it was reported that ambulances and medical aids were waiting outside the Silkyara tunnel and ICU beds were reserved for the trapped workers at the AIIMS hospital in Rishikesh.

A team of seven experts from Delhi have also reached the collapse site to help speed up the rescue operation. The first 6-metre pipe has already been injected, while welding work is underway for the drilling of the next pipe of the same length, NDRF DG, Atul Karwal said.

Here are top updates in the final stage of Uttarkashi tunnel rescue:

  • According to the Tunneling expert Arnold Dix, the drilling to rescue the stranded workers inside the Silkyara Tunnel was put on hold again after the auger machine developed a technical snag. So far the drilling machine has broken down three times.

    "We are only just meters away from finding passage to have the men back. But the men are safe. The auger machine has broken down, it is being repaired and it should be back up tomorrow," he told news agency ANI on Thursday.

  • The platform on which the equipment is mounted developed some cracks, PTI said earlier. The rescue workers will “stabilise” the platform on which the 25-tonne auger machine is mounted before drilling is resumed, officials said.

  • A machine was brought by helicopter to fix the auger drilling machine outside the tunnel. Reportedly, the NDRF personnel are now installing bearings and wheels on stretchers so that the trapped workers can be pulled out on those, and not crawl out through the long pipes.

  • Addressing a press conference, NDMA official Lt General Syed Ata Hasnain said that both the 41 trapped workers and the rescue team deployed there are at risk, pointing out that expecting the rescue work to be finished in the next two hours puts pressure on the workforce.

    The rescue operation would be successful in the next few hours or by Friday, he added.

  • In order to help the stranded workers after being evacuated, ICU beds are reserved for them at the AIIMS hospital in Rishikesh. Dr Narinder Kumar, Hospital Administration, AIIMS Rishikesh, said, "If needed, there is a plan to bring the rescued people to AIIMS Rishikesh. The government has made arrangements at the district hospital in Uttarkashi. They will be taken there first. We have also made arrangements here. Trauma and ICU beds have been reserved for them."

  • Medical equipment, consisting of wheelchairs and stretchers, among others, reached the tunnel site earlier in the day. Visuals shared by news agency ANI showed people arranging the equipment and readying those as the final stage of the rescue operation to get 41 trapped workers out of the tunnel is underway.

  • On Thursday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Minister General VK Singh (Retd) visited the tunnel site. Dhami said that he spoke with PM Modi on Thursday morning, who sought an update on the rescue operation.

  • Uttarkashi senior police officer Arpan Yaduvanshi gave brief about the post-rescue action plan, saying that the workers would be taken through a green corridor with a police escort while ensuring that the "best possible treatment" is given to them.

    He further said that with the iron structures now removed from the debris, the rescue operation will be completed "as early as possible", news agency ANI reported.

  • As the rescue work is in its final stage, prayers were being offered at a temple that was built outside the main entrance of the tunnel this morning. Visuals shared by ANI showed a priest worshipping deities as the rescue operation, which commenced on November 12, continued.

  • A family member of a trapped worker, namely Chanchal Singh Bisht, told ANI that he had a conversation with his cousin. "It looks like he will come out today... I had a conversation with him, he asked me to go home and said that he was fine," Bisht told ANI.

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