DEHRADUN: The wait for the rescue of 40 workers stranded on the other side of an estimated 30-metre rubble in an under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi since Sunday, got longer as a horizontal drill machine broke down.
A replacement auger (drill) machine in knocked down condition was airlifted by three C-130J Hercules IAF planes to the Chinyalisaur airstrip on Wednesday and transported to the accident site, which is 25 km away, by road. The machine is being reassembled so as to resume drilling and pushing steel pipes 2.7 ft and 3 ft wide through the debris. The accident happened on the Silkyara side of the 4.5 km tunnel that terminates at Dandalgaon on the Yamunotri National Highway.
Parallelly, rescuers have touched base with experts in Norway and Thailand on crisis management. The Thailand Rescue Company that has been contacted, had successfully rescued children trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non, a cave system in Chiang Rai province, northern Thailand, in 2018. Besides, help has been sought from the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute on how to operate inside the tunnel that is caving in.
The new drill machine that is being deployed is technologically much more advanced than the old machine that broke down. Colonel Deepak Patil, who is in charge of the rescue work, said, “The new US-made Auger machine will work faster.”
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Director Anshu Manish Khalkho said, “The US machine can penetrate 4-5 metres of rubble per hour. Even if this machine doesn’t work, we have a backup plan. But it is very difficult to fix a deadline for the rescue plan,” said Khalkho.
Protest by labourers
Some family members and other labourers staged a protest near the spot over the delay in rescue. They were pacified by the administration officials
“We are all as worried as the families of the labourers. No one is resting until we all get them out,” NHIDC director Khalkho said
District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela advised families of the stranded labourers not to lose patience
Through the old Auger machine, about 3 metres of pipe was inserted into the debris when it stopped midway. It was also too slow