Vertical Drilling Underway To Rescue Workers Trapped In Uttarkashi Tunnel

Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) [India]: Vertical drilling, one of the several chalked-out options to bring out 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi since November 12, finally started on Sunday afternoon.

Two locations were identified for the vertical drilling, and both are on the Silkyara side of the high-altitude under-construction tunnel, a portion of which caved in on November 12.

SJVN, a public sector undertaking company involved in hydroelectric power generation and transmission, has just started vertical drilling work on the top of the tunnel atop the hill, the 15th day of continued rescue efforts.

As a second option, vertical drilling work has also been started in another part on top of the tunnel to create rescue space for workers trapped. This portion of the tunnel has access to electricity and water.

Multiple agencies are working on the rescue efforts. In the latest, the Indian Air Force has also joined in as it flew in critical DRDO equipment to Dehradun.

On Tuesday, rescuers managed to insert an endoscopy camera into the tunnel. The first visuals captured on that device showed the trapped workers had ample space inside the tunnel for them to move around.

The visuals gave new hope to worried relatives, some of whom were camping outside the site of the collapsed tunnel structure.

Meanwhile, International tunnelling expert Arnold Dix who has roped in the rescue project said on Sunday that there was no chance of a collapse in the area where the incident happened suggesting to investigation into the matter.

“It may have been an unusual situation occurring here where the class of rock changes. It has to be investigated. The area that collapsed hasn’t collapsed before; it wasn’t even given any clue that it was going to collapse before. So, it is a part of the challenge for us–what is it about the ground here, this mountain that caught us on the backfoot,” he said.

He further said the auger machine cutting that got stuck in the debris of the Silkyara tunnel is progressing fast after plasma cutters were brought in on Sunday morning.

“The auger machine failed, and we are having a lot of technical difficulties in getting the auger out of the pipe. That’s (the process of cutting it out) going much faster this morning as plasma cutters have come,” Arnold Dix added.