Uttarkashi tunnel collapse Day 16: Rescue team to drill 86 metres by 30 Nov to save trapped labourers; Key points

• Image Credit: Google

• Nov 27, 2023 | Guriya Khatun

A 200-mm narrow probe is being pushed in a little bit of distant. The 70-meter milestone has been attained.

Digital Desk: The rescue teams in Uttrakashi's Silkyara tunnel are encountering new obstacles every day while digging the tunnel, which could extend their mission to rescue the 41 trapped labourers in the tunnel. A section of the tunnel under construction on the Char Dham path in Uttarakhand collapsed due to a landslip on November 12, the eve of the Diwali festival, preventing the workers inside from leaving. The workers are in a built-up two-kilometre stretch of the tunnel.

Uttarkashi tunnel collapse: Here's what has happened so far 

• Mahmood Ahmad, Managing Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), said on Sunday that 19.2 metres of vertical drilling had been completed. "We need to drill 86 metres or so in order to finish in four days, or by November 30. "Hopefully, there won't be any more obstacles and the project will be finished on schedule," he continued. After the most recent set of problems beset the horizontal drilling effort from the tunnel's Silkyara end, where rescue crews confronted an estimated 60-meter length of rubble, the vertical boring option was determined to be the next best choice.

· According to the National Disaster Management Authority, 41 workers are still stuck in the Uttarkashi tunnel, and reaching the crust will require digging 86 metres vertically. Installing 700-mm-wide pipes to provide an escape route is being done as the digging continues. 

· A 200-mm narrow probe is being pushed in a little bit of distant. The 70-meter milestone has been attained.

· To supplement the gas cutter, an airlift of a plasma cutter was conducted from Hyderabad yesterday. After the auger shaft was driven into the rubble, it was only 8.15 metres long—or 47 

meters—remaining to be chopped and extracted by the evening.

· On Tuesday, rescue personnel will begin boring a 180-meter detour into the hill's slope. This can take a week or two. Upon the auger's full extraction, the rescuers will switch to a hand drilling technique to remove the last 10 or 12 metres of debris. Another guy would throw the rubble out with a pulley while one worker operated the drill inside the steel chute that had already been installed.

· Up to around 10 of the 483 metres of drilling that is now underway are being completed from the Barkot end of the tunnel. Drilling for up to 40 days could be required for this strategy.

· The Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi is being manually drilled by a Madras Sappers engineer group, which is part of the Indian Army's Corps of Engineers. Rat boring will be done within the tunnel by the Indian Army and citizens as a manual drilling technique. 

· Using tools like hammers, chisels, and hands, the Indian Army and civilians will clear the tunnel's debris before pushing the pipe forward from the platform that has been constructed inside of it.

· The Uttarakhand government is providing stranded workers with salts, medications, and fruits like oranges, apples, and bananas, among others. Regular contact is conducted via a modified SDRF-developed wire-connected communication system.

· On Sunday, Union Minister of State for Highways and Road Transport V K Singh made another visit to the accident scene. At his Tanakpur house, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami hosted the family of captive labourer Pushkar Singh Eiri.