SOS to Thai rescue experts in bid to free Uttarakhand's trapped tunnel workers
DEHRADUN: The local administration is hopeful that all the 40 workers stranded for three days following a landslide in the under-construction 4.5 kms long Silkiara tunnel between Silkiara and Dandalgaon on the Yamunotri National Highway will be evacuated soon. Three special aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have arrived at the Chinyalisaur airstrip with 25 tonnes of heavy advanced machines for drilling. The machines have been transported by the administration to the accident site by a 25-km road.
Meanwhile, taking no chances at this complex juncture, special teams are being sought from Norway and Thailand who have mastered the art of crisis prevention in the event of such disasters. Officials have contacted the Thailand Rescue Company, which rescued the children trapped in the cave in Thailand.
Colonel Deepak Patil, who is in charge of the rescue work, told The New Indian Express, "A new US-made Auger machine has been brought for drilling, which will work faster."
"The new American Auger machine is 4.42 metres in length, 2.22 metres in width and 2 metres in height, with a total weight of 25 tonnes," an official involved in the rescue work at the site told The New Indian Express.
According to information received from sources, the work of preparing the escape tunnel from the Auger drilling machine started on Tuesday night. About three metres of pipe were inserted between the debris through the machine, but suddenly there was a technical fault in the machine and the work had to be stopped midway.
"The teams involved in the rescue have contacted a Thai company that helped rescue a junior association football team trapped in a cave system in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province in 2018," Col Deepak Patil, in charge of the rescue operation, told TNIE. "So the expertise of the company will be invaluable," he said.
"The machine has been brought in and the debris is being removed but some of it has been replaced by more fallen debris, but our focus is not on it," National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Director Anshu Manish Khalkho told reporters outside the tunnel, adding "We're trying to push the pipe instead."
"Even if this machine doesn't work, we have a backup plan and it is very difficult to fix a deadline for the rescue plan," said Khalkho. "We are all as worried as the families of the labourers and no one is resting until we all get them out," he said.
Some family members and other labourers also staged a protest near the spot over the delay in rescuing the trapped people. They were later pacified by officials.