Uttarkashi op to rescue 41 trapped men faces yet another late-night snag
The Uttarkashi tunnel rescue operation to get 41 workers out entered day 13 on Friday.
The drilling work from the Silkyara tunnel side, using the American-augur machine, faced yet another technical snag late on Thursday night after the platform on which the equipment is mounted developed cracks.
However, the platform has now been fixed but the process of cutting the already injected pipe to ease off pressure at its mouth is underway, former PMO Advisor Bhaskar Khulbe told India Today on Friday.
He said that the rescue team worked on two fronts to fix the platform, adding that the drilling work is expected to resume at 11.30 am. So far, the rescue team has drilled up to 46 metres and 14 more metres are left to reach the trapped men.
To achieve the smooth formation of the pipeline in the remaining stretch, the rescuers will use three pipes of 6 metres each. One of these pipes was injected yesterday as part of creating a passage for the workers to come out.
“Our study of ground penetration (of pipes) revealed that there is no metal presence beyond the next 5 metres (of the remaining 14 metres). Our target is (a total of) 60 metres,” Khulbe told India Today.
He further said that the next 5 metre-stretch is not expected to be an obstacle as the debris would be soft.
The tunnel rescue operation entered its final stage on Wednesday, and the workers are expected to be pulled out today.
Here are the latest developments in the Uttarkashi tunnel rescue work
A drone, which is being used in the rescue operation, can go “inside the tunnel” and to “GPS-denied areas”, Cyriac Joseph, MD & CEO, Squadrone Infra Mining Private Limited told news agency ANI.
He said that the drone is one of the latest technologies, and it goes autonomous in inaccessible areas, helping in understanding should there be any convergance.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who stayed at the tunnel site overnight, will return to the capital city of Dehradun later in the day, sources privy to the matter told India Today.
In a post on X on Thursday, Dhami said that he will stay at the site in a temporary camp office – set up in Matali – to oversee the rescue operation and ensure there is no hindrance to his daily government work.
“Along with this, it has been decided not to celebrate the Egas festival, which is celebrated with great pomp in Uttarakhand today. Today, on the occasion of Egas, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was to participate in this festival along with about a thousand people at the Chief Minister’s residence which he also cancelled,” an official statement said on Thursday.
Visuals shared by news agency ANI showed food being packed for the 41 trapped workers. The rescue team have been giving food, medicines, water and other essential items to the workers through a pipe that was inserted for the purpose.
Officials have mentioned that no particular timeline should be set for the rescue of the 41 trapped men, adding that if all goes well, then they would be out by Friday afternoon. On Thursday, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said that the rescue work at the Uttarkashi tunnel site is like a “war”, noting that “Himalayan geology” is the enemy in this case.
“Many experts are giving opinions that they might be rescued today evening, tomorrow morning, but remember these operations are like a war. These operations should not be given a timeline. In wars, we don’t know how the enemy will react. Here, (the) Himalayan geology is our enemy. We don’t know from which angle the tunnel has collapsed,” Hasnain told a press briefing in New Delhi on Thursday.
As many as 41 ambulances have been deployed at the Uttarkashi tunnel site. Of these, 31 have been provided by ‘Operation 108 Ambulance’ initiative, while 10 have been given by the state administration.