Manual drilling will start soon to cut through the debris that separates rescuers from the 41 trapped workers in the collapsed portion of the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, officials informed on Saturday.
"The auger drilling machine has been reassembled. A new pipe will be put in after the welding, which will take two hours. After two hours, we will push the pipe inside the tunnel. We hope that we push the pipe further this time and will face no obstacles," Additional Secretary Ahmed said.
As the ongoing operation to rescue 41 workers trapped in a collapsed portion of the Uttarkashi tunnel entered the 13th day, the director ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation), who is present at the site, asserted the labourers will be rescued by Friday.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel on Friday carried out a demonstration of the movement of wheeled stretchers through the pipeline inserted to extricate 41 workers trapped in a portion of the Silkyara tunnel of Uttarkashi, which collapsed over a week ago.
Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) [India], November 24 (ANI): As the Uttarkashi tunnel rescue operations reached its final stage on Friday, the kins of trapped labourers wish for the safe return of their loved ones.
The platform on which the equipment was mounted had developed some cracks when the rescue operation was underway on Thursday, and the process of horizontal drilling through the debris had to be paused.
Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, General (retd) VK Singh, reached the Silkyara tunnel site on Friday to take stock of the ongoing efforts to rescue 41 trapped workers.
"The problem encountered in the platform on which the American auger machine was mounted has been fixed and now the machine is running smoothly on the platform," a top official told ANI.
Talking to ANI here on Friday morning, Khulbe said that the platform on which the Augur drilling machine developed some cracks yesterday has been revamped now.
"We need to rescue our people and then draw lessons as to why such a collapse takes place and what preventive measures or steps must be taken or planned. We must also look into how it could have happened and how it could have been prevented. All such questions need to be addressed in the com