UTTARKASHI: As the rescue operations enter the 17th day in the Silkyara tunnel, the work of manual drilling is underway to bring out the trapped workers.
Micro tunnelling expert Chris Cooper on Tuesday morning said that 3 metres of manual drilling has been done so far and about 50 metres of drilling work has been completed in total.
As per official sources, about 57 metres of drilling work from the mouth of the tunnel, is to be done in total to lay a pipe inside the tunnel to reach the trapped workers.
Speaking on the ongoing drilling work, Chris Cooper, Micro tunnelling expert said, "It went very well last night. We have crossed 50 metres. It's now about 5-6 metres to go. We didn't have any obstacles last night. It is looking very positive."
Rat-hole miners are carrying out the manual drilling work which has been going on since Monday night.
Twelve rat-hole mining experts have been involved in the horizontal excavation through the last 10 or 12-metre stretch of debris of the collapsed portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route since Monday.
This drilling was earlier carried out by a huge auger machine that got stuck in the rubble on Friday at around 47 metres. A skilled team of workers is removing muck by hand using the rat-hole mining technique while 800-mm diameter pipes are being inserted by an auger machine through the rubble.
Praveen Yadav, who is involved in cutting and removing the hurdles from the debris, said 51 metres have been drilled.
A worker from the Trenchless company, which is pushing the pipes with the auger machine, said if no hurdles are faced, some good news could be expected by this evening.
Rat-hole mining is a controversial and hazardous procedure in which miners in small groups go down narrow burrows to excavate small quantities of coal.
Uttarakhand government's nodal officer Neeraj Khairwal made it clear that the men brought to the site were not rat-hole miners but people who are experts in the technique.
They are likely to be divided into teams of two or three.
Each team will go into the steel chute laid into the escape passage for brief periods.
Rajput Rai, a rat-hole drilling expert, said one man will do the drilling, another collects the rubble with his hands and the third places it on a trolley to be pulled out.
Earlier the rescuers had completed about 47 metres of drilling work using the auger machine to lay the pipe.
The drilling work was put on hold as the auger machine got stuck in the debris, which was later cut and removed using a plasma cutter.
Meanwhile, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) Managing Director Mahmood Ahmad on Monday said that the vertical drilling of 36 meters has been completed which was done from atop the hill.
On Monday, Neeraj Khairwal, Secretary of the Uttarakhand Government, said that timelines for the drilling operations in totality cannot be assumed.
"After taking out the part of Auger that was struck inside the tunnel was taken out. 1.9 meters that was cut, in that, the first 220 mm was pushed, and was taken out. There was concern that it may not be pushed, but now we won't have to go on an alternate method. Then again 500 mm was pushed. Rat miners pushed that part," the official said.
"A time limit cannot be said, but let's hope and pray that minimum obstacles occur and we will be able to do this quickly," he added.
Officials informed that the 41 workers trapped inside the tunnel are stable and safe.
Also, National Disaster Management Authority Member, Lt General (Rtd) Syed Ata Hasnain on Monday that currently, the situation inside the tunnel is under control.
"Things are under control. Food and medicine are going inside as per requirements. Psychological aspects are also given importance. Backup communications have been established," he said.
A delegation led by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Pramod Kumar Mishra also took stock of ongoing efforts earlier on Monday. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Uttarakhand Chief Secretary SS Sandhu along with PK Mishra inspected the work inside the tunnel.