Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: In the event that the horizontal strategy fails, officials are beginning to consider vertical drilling from the top of the tunnel as the eighth day of operations to rescue the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi approaches. According to Bhaskar Khulbe, a former counsellor in the Prime Minister’s Office, the rescue operations will probably require a further four to five days. “But if the gods are kind enough, it could happen even earlier than that,” he added, as per PTI.
Construction of Emergency Evacuation Route to Shield Trapped Workers
To protect the workers, an emergency evacuation route is presently being built. This entails setting up safety barriers at the tunnel’s entrance. Officials from the rescue team are also optimistic that by Sunday afternoon, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will have completed construction of a new route leading to the Silkyara tunnel. This would open up an additional route to the stranded labourers, allowing the rescue operation—which had been put on hold since Friday—to resume.
Professor Arnold Dix En Route to Spearhead Silkyara Rescue
Professor Arnold Dix, a renowned expert in tunnelling who was called in to assist with the rescue effort, announced on Friday that he was currently en route to India to assist the team on site. The specialist talked with India Today about his strategy for freeing the stranded labourers. To save the 41 men, a group of specialists at the location and representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) have chosen to collaborate on five different ideas at the same time rather than just one.
Simultaneous Operation of Five Plans Urged for Swift Silkyara Tunnel Rescue
Despite the fact that drilling operations resumed on Saturday, officials believe that in order to get to the trapped workers as soon as possible, they should operate simultaneously on five plans rather than just one. Coworkers of the men who were trapped demonstrated against the prolonged rescue effort and held the building company responsible for the tunnel collapse. Drilling straight down from the top of the tunnel, drilling at a right angle, and drilling from side to side on both the Silkyara and Barkot ends are the three tactics used. In relation to the rescue operation, Prime Minister’s Office officials gave assurances that they had “resources, options, and ideas” in abundance and that they were also receiving assistance from overseas specialists.
Uttarkashi’s DFO Designates Strategic Location for Silkyara Tunnel Drilling
Reporters were informed on Friday by DP Baluni, the District Forest Officer (DFO) of Uttarkashi, that a location just above the tunnel has been designated for vertical drilling. He continued by saying that a hole would be drilled from that location to get there, and the hole would be between 300 and 350 feet deep. A robust drilling apparatus was moved from Indore to the location of the tunnel collapse on the Char Dham path on Saturday. It is presently being built and will shortly be used to continue drilling through the debris, according to officials on the scene.
High-Level Deliberations
The Union government had a high-level conference on Saturday to talk about five possibilities for the workers who are trapped to be rescued. Sources claim that different agencies were given particular options to concentrate on throughout the conversation. On Sunday at 11 am, sources indicate that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami of Uttarakhand are scheduled to inspect the rescue operations at the Silkyara tunnel site.
Hundreds of Workers Join Silkyara Tunnel Rescue Operations
To assist with the rescue effort, hundreds of workers have been called into action. However, massive machinery is carving out a passageway through the mountain so that vertical drilling may begin inside the tunnel. Authorities say there are safety obstacles at the tunnel’s entrance and that work is underway to create an emergency escape route. In Silkyara, Bhaskar Khulbe, a former prime minister’s advisor, said that in four to five days, concentrated efforts will yield positive outcomes. “But if the gods are kind enough, it could happen even earlier than that,” he said, as per PTI.
Silkyara’s Week-Long Struggle
More than a week has passed since the November 12 at 5:30 am collapse of a portion of the Silkyara tunnel. Rescue efforts had stopped on Friday afternoon. According to reports, there was an issue with the US-made auger machine that was being used to drill and insert pipes through the debris to give the workers an escape path. Officials have refuted reports of problems with the device, though.
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