Silkyara Tunnel Rescue: The Indian Army has now joined the rescue operations to evacuate 41 trapped labourers inside the Uttarakhand tunnel which encountered another trouble after the American auger machine, critical for horizontal drilling, broke down. This comes after around two weeks of relief efforts aimed at saving the workers who got trapped after the Silkyara tunnel collapsed on Nov 12. The experts at the site have said that with the auger machine in irreparable condition, only the option of vertical and manual drilling is left to save the workers. The army personnel are tasked with manual drilling into the tunnel.


Top Updates On Rescue Operations



  • The auger machine broke down after its blades stuck in the debris while drilling through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel. Now, the teams are pulling out the blades which were brought in to tea through 60 metres portion of the tunnel to save the workers.







  • A plasma cutter has been flown from Hyderabad to cut and remove those parts to continue the rescue operations for 41 men who have been stranded inside for the past 14 days. A complete disengagement of the machine is necessary for the officials to continue their rescue work which involves pushing the pipes through the rubble manually in order to create an escape passage.


 



  • Now, the Indian Army has been tasked with manual drilling -- which means one person would enter the already bored stretch inside the tunnel and drill for a brief period. The person will then come out to let someone else take over. A unit of Madras Sappers, an engineer group of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army, arrived at the site today to assist in the rescue operations, reported PTI. Meanwhile, vertical drilling has already begun as part of the operations by the SJVN.


 



  • The rescue teams have laid a protection umbrella for the workers who will take up the challenge of manual drilling. A BSNL landline has also been set up to allow the workers to talk to their families. They have also been given mobile phones and board games to help them in coping with the stress as the rescue operation gets delayed.


 



  • National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain advised people to keep patience and said, "This operation could take a long time. When you are working on a mountain, everything is unpredictable. We never gave any timeline."