INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
pressed into service on Sunday to clear the escape passage in the Silkyara tunnel where blades of the auger drilling machine had got lodged
on Friday, halting the operation to rescue the 41 trapped workers inside.A plasma cutting machine intended to speedily dislodge the blades,
was flown in by IAF from Hyderabad, but did not prove useful.Soon after, at 5 am, Army personnel along with technicians of a private company
got on the job, using gas cutting machines to cut the parts of the auger machine.Uttarkashi tunnel rescue operation: Vertical drilling
machines arrive at top of Silkyara tunnelPlan B was also activated and vertical drilling, for which preparations had been made a day ago,
Till the time of filing this report, Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited, the agency assigned the task, had drilled up to 19.2 meters of the
total of 86 meters required to reach the trapped workers
accelerate the drilling process
Management Authority (NDMA), said that after drilling through the hill, the crust of the tunnel has to be cut for rescue of the workers
evening, officials said that the damaged section of the auger, lodged in the 47-meter long 900mm wide escape passage, had been recovered up
to 39 meters, leaving approximately 8 meters pending
They added that the exercise was a time-taking and precarious one and may stretch till Monday.After the escape passage gets cleared, rescue
agencies intend to resume their plan of manual digging and inserting 900 mm pipes through the auger in order to reach the stranded workers,
who were 10 to 12 meters away when the operation had stalled
This, officials said, was still the safest bet to reach the workers in the next couple of days.(With inputs by Dipak Dash)Uttarkashi
