New Delhi: Multiple agencies are working round-the-clock to rescue the 40 workers trapped inside an Uttarkashi tunnel since Sunday morning — with heavy drilling machines attempting to construct a wide escape hole through stubborn rock, while rescuers supply more sustainable food to the beleaguered men.
The workers, who were helping construct the 4.5-kilometre Silkyara to Dandagaon tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway, have been trapped amid thick boulders and loose rubble for over 96 hours now after the mouth of the underpass gave way early Sunday morning.
They are currently caught in a 400-metre buffer zone, about 60 to 70 metres of rocky debris away from rescuers. On Wednesday, disaster response teams started working on a new trenchless technique of digging, with the help of newly-installed heavy drilling equipment, or auger machines. The aim now is to create a three-feet-wide stable passage for a pipe through which the trapped men can crawl out.
Rescue teams established contact with the workers the very next day the tunnel collapsed, initially through a paper note shoved down an existing pipe, then through walkie talkie sets that went down the same way. Packages of food and water were also being slipped through the pipe.
Deputy Commandant of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Ravi Shankar Badhani said six-metre-long steel pipes are being drilled into the obstructing gravel to create an evacuation route. Stationed at the site since day one of the rescue operation, Badhani told ThePrint that it was a relief that electricity and water were available where the workers were trapped. “We have been able to reach very close and the men appear to be just 60 to 70 metres away now,” he said.
Incidentally, when the portion of the tunnel caved in on Sunday, the stretch of the tunnel that was immediately clogged was around 200 metres.
Badhani said that teams were relying on the heavy machines to clear the passageway. “Our teams will start the rescue only after the debris is cleared,” he said.
The officer recalled the time they first established contact with the trapped men. “They wanted their families to know they were fine. The men also demanded murmure, chana and dry fruits, including kishmish, to sustain themselves for a longer period. We added that in the food packets which were carrying biscuits,” Badani said.
More than 160 members of the NDRF, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), the Border Roads Organization (BRO), and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are working round the clock to get through to the men.
Loose gravel a challenge
NDRF Director General Atul Karwal told ThePrint that earth-moving machines were airlifted from Delhi Wednesday in two Hercules C-130 planes provided by the Air Force.
These state-of-the-art machines were brought to the spot in three parts and assembled locally, he said, adding these machines can create the escape cavity faster.
Karwal said the main challenge now is the loose gravel which keeps falling. The auger machines, which drill horizontally, rotate and excavate the earth. He said the loose gravel is also mixed with heavy rocks which adds to the level of obstruction.
Another NDRF officer said crumbly rocks keep coming down during the excavation operation and, at times, have fallen on a cleared stretch of the passage, thereby undoing efforts. Fresh debris showers keep impeding the work, he said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Heavy machinery brought in to pull out Indian workers from collapsed tunnel