New Delhi: If no major obstacles are encountered, the rescue of 41 men trapped in an Uttarakhand tunnel for 12 days will be completed by tonight, authorities have said.
Director General of the National Disaster Response Force Atul Karwal said Thursday afternoon that the main drilling machine was working well to clear the remaining debris. “Hopefully by the end of the day, if we do not get any obstacles, the rescue operation will be completed,” he said.
He added that the final two to three pipes were being inserted through the opened-up passageway to reach the workers, who have been trapped inside the Silkyara-Dandalgaon tunnel in Uttarkashi since 12 November.
Former advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Bhaskar Khulbe, also told reporters early Thursday afternoon that the drilling would take another 12 to 14 hours.
Multiple teams from India and abroad have brainstormed several strategies to free the men, and finally succeeded in drilling through the debris with a heavy auger machine. Authorities then inserted pipes, and welded them one after the other, to create a passage large enough for the men to crawl out.
The complex operation, which has hit several snags, picked up in the last few days after the heavy drilling machine proved most successful. Authorities, however, had kept other options open too, including drilling from the top to reach the clearing where the men were trapped.
The operation’s first success came Tuesday when rescuers managed to deliver to the men their first hot meal via a 53-metre pipe inserted through the rubble the previous day.
Also read: Rescue ops at collapsed Uttarkashi tunnel in final stages, last pipe being pushed in through rubble