DEHRADUN: A heavy-duty drilling machine flown in by the IAF from Delhi began boring through the rubble of a collapsed tunnel on the Char Dham route in Uttarakhand on Thursday, in a fresh attempt to create an escape passage for 40 workers trapped inside for the past four days.
Sections of mild steel pipes of 800-mm and 900-mm diameter will be inserted -- one after the other -- into the drilled passage. Once this happens, the workers trapped inside can crawl out to safety.
They were stranded after a landslide occurred in an under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Yamunotri National Highway in the early hours of Sunday. A 30-40 metre stretch of the under-construction tunnel, part of the ambitious Rs 12,000-crore Char Dham all-weather road project, had collapsed then.
The collapsed section is 270 metres from the mouth of the tunnel from the Silkyara side. The workers are stranded on the other side of the debris.
Workers outside the Silkyara tunnel performed a puja before the America-made auger machine began work.
Colonel Deepak Patil, in charge of the relief and rescue mission, told TNIE, "The US-made Jack and Push Earth Auger machine is significantly more advanced than the old machine, which will work at a much faster speed".
"The tunnel in which the labourers are trapped is an estimated 60 metres away, where a way will be made by laying drilling pipes with the help of Auger machines", said Colonel Patil, adding, "Our Plan 'A' with the old machine failed, but we are currently working on Plan 'B' and Plan 'C' is also ready".
The first pipe has been inserted into the debris of the tunnel through the Jack and Push Earth Auger machine. Rescue officials are hopeful that by late night, the process of evacuation of the trapped labourers will start.
Equipment flown in parts through IAF's Hercules planes
The Indian Air Force had flown in the equipment in parts on three C-130 Hercules transport planes to an airstrip 30 kilometres away after previous efforts to insert steel pipes into the rubble with the help of a smaller auger machine failed. The new auger machine was flown in after the first drilling machine turned out to be too slow and technical issues developed, the officials said.
Also, falling debris inside the tunnel damaged the first equipment and injured two rescue workers on Tuesday.
An official of the Uttarkashi district administration told this newspaper, "After the Auger machine malfunctioned during the rescue operation on Tuesday night, a new machine was sent from New Delhi to Chinyalisaur Airport by three Hercules aircraft of the Indian Air Force."
"I have been told that the new drilling machine has already penetrated 5-7 metres through the debris. We hope it would soon reach the trapped workers, drilling at the rate of 5-10 metres every hour," Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami told reporters in Dehradun.
The workers are safe, and being provided with oxygen, electricity, medicines, food items and water through pipes, Navayuga Engineering Company's spokesperson G L Nath said. The company is building the tunnel on behalf of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
VK Singh visits site
Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Gen (retd) V K Singh reached the incident site on Thursday and reviewed the ongoing rescue operation. "Rescue operations are going on, we are very hopeful, we are trying our best", the Union Minister Singh said.
A six-bed makeshift health facility has been set up and 10 ambulances with expert doctors stationed outside the tunnel to provide immediate medical care to the trapped workers after their evacuation, officials said.
Tunnel experts are constantly monitoring the situation through videography to check and understand the "trend and behaviour" of the rocks.
"Two people have been given the responsibility for this work, who are also monitoring the situation and rescue operation round the clock by video cameras in the tunnel," said a worker associated with the company.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a review meeting with senior officials at the State Secretariat.
The state government is providing all support to the technical experts supervising the rescue operations on the spot, Dhami said and added that they are in touch with international specialists.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is constantly monitoring the situation.
The 25-ton new auger machine has a capacity to drill 4-5 metres per hour, NHIDCL Director Anshu Manish Khalkho said earlier.
After being brought to the site, the machine was installed through the night and made operational on Thursday.
(With additional inputs from PTI)