The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association has extended its support to the Indian rescue team’s efforts to evacuate 40 labourers trapped in an under-construction tunnel that collapsed in Uttarkashi.
The incident that took place on November 11, caused a portion of the tunnel under construction between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway to collapse, leaving 40 workers trapped after a landslide.
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Continuous efforts are being made in the area in order to free the trapped labourers, ANI reported.
Anshu Manish Khulko, Tunnel Project Director of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), said teams from Norway and Thailand have been kept on standby for potential involvement in the rescue operations.
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Addressing the media, NHIDCL Director Anshu Manish explained, “The work of pipe pushing with the help of an auger machine is in progress to safely take out the workers trapped in the Silkyara Tunnel. So far, a distance of 24 metres of pipe has been laid inside the debris. To increase the retention capacity of the rescue operation, arrangements have also been made to airlift one more auger machine from Indore for backup so that the rescue operation continues uninterrupted.”
Initially, heavy auger drilling machines were airlifted from Delhi to ease rescue operations at war footing. Rescuers strategically arranged a platform to facilitate the insertion of large-diameter steel pipes into the debris-filled tunnel, aiming to create a safe passage for labourers’ evacuation.
“American auger machine is a highly advanced machine. Its work is going on in full swing. As per the latest update, four pipes have been inserted and the welding of a fifth one is underway. We can say that the auger machine is going well. If there are no hindrances by the debris, we will be able to make the tunnel and rescue them at the earliest…We can’t give you a deadline as to when will the operation be complete but the technical workers are working hard round the clock and this will conclude at the earliest. All of them will be rescued,” Uttarkashi SP Arpan Yaduvanshi stated.
Tensions have arisen outside the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi, as workers express worries over the delay in the rescue of 40 trapped labourers following a portion of the under-construction tunnel’s collapse.
(With ANI Inputs)