INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Dehradun/Silkyara: Rescue agencies are pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to save 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel for almost
200 hours in Uttarkashi, with focus on vertical drilling, which officials said may offer the fastest way to reach the stranded workers.A
similar method was deployed at Bilaspur, Himachal, in 2015
A few workers who had got trapped inside a tunnelwere pulled out after nine days when an escape passage was created for them by drilling
from the top of the tunnel.On Sunday, the BRO made preparations for the vertical drilling exercise by getting ready a 700m-long temporary
track for transporting machinery to a point on the top of the hill.Colonel RS Rao of BRO, who had been involved in tunnel rescues in the
morning, to ascertain the feasibility of creating a lifeline for supplying food and other essentials for the trapped workers.As reported by
simultaneous efforts will be made to breach the tunnel from five different fronts
Besides vertical drilling, these include excavating two escape channels/tunnels on both sides of the Silkyara tunnel, digging a tunnel from
Barkot side, reaching out to the trapped workers via the cavity formed during the roof collapse, and continuing with the previous method of
horizontal drilling and pushing pipes via an auger boring machine.A statement issued late on Sunday by NHIDCL, the central government PSU,
working on safety arrangements
To facilitate this, the Army has prepared a box culvert and a canopy framework is also being made
Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation (THDC) shall start work of micro-tunnelling from Barkot end, for which heavy machinery has been
Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) will do the vertical drilling to rescue the trapped labourers
Accordingly, equipment has been mobilised from Gujarat and Odisha through the Railways
Being 75-ton equipment, it could not be airlifted
landing to reach trapped workers
