DEHRADUN: A heavy-duty drilling machine flown in by the IAF is functioning well at the cave in site of an under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi where 40 labourers have been stranded on the other side of the rubble since Sunday.
Uttarkashi Superintendent of Police Arpan Yaduvanshi told this newspaper that two steel pipes — each 6 metres long — have been inserted into the debris to rescue the labourers. That insertion took seven hours.
A third pipe has now been welded to the second one and is being pushed in through the US-made jack and push earth auger machine. More than 12 metres of the pipe has been inserted so far. “Drilling is going on continuously,” the Uttarkashi SP said.
The length of the debris heap was earlier estimated at 30 metres. It could actually be double that figure. Col Deepak Patil, in charge of the relief and rescue mission, said: “The trapped labourers are estimated to be 60 metres away from where drilling started. When our Plan A with an old auger machine failed, we went for Plan B, which was using the US-made auger. Plan C is also ready,” he said.
Once the pipe reaches the other side where the labourers are trapped, it will be illuminated inside with an LED rope light. The NDRF rehearsed evacuation drills and modified their stretchers into movable trolleys using used vehicles bearings, two stretchers in tandem.
The collapse happened at the Silkyara side of the tunnel that will terminate at Dandalgaon when the project is fully executed. It’s on the Yamunotri National Highway. The operation is being remotely monitored by tunnel experts through live video to check and understand the trend and behaviour of the rocks. “Two persons have been given the responsibility for this work. They are running the video cameras round the clock,” said a worker associated with the company.