Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: Rescuers Will Need An Additional 12–14 Hours To Reach Trapped Workers; 15 Doctors Are On Standby Ambulances

In Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, 41 workmen have been trapped for the last eleven days under the collapsed Silkyara tunnel. Medical personnel and ambulances have been placed on standby outside the tunnel. Earlier, officials had anticipated that the rescue operation would be over by early Thursday morning. However, the rescue effort was delayed by 12 to 14 hours due to an iron mesh that had blocked the drilling machine’s course and created an escape route for the men.

When some iron rods got in the path of the auger equipment that was drilling the steel pipes through the debris on Wednesday late evening, the rescue efforts encountered a roadblock. “We needed six hours to get rid of it. However, the good news is that we overcame the obstacle yesterday, after drilling to a depth of 45 meters, according to Bhaskar Khulbe, a former counselor to the prime minister’s office.

The assembly process has now resumed in order to reach a length of more than 45 meters, which calls for welding the pipes. He said that the drilling will shortly start up again. The whole process of getting to the workforce will take an additional 12 to 14 hours. It will take three hours to remove each employee one at a time after that. The NDRF will assist with that, according to Khulbe.

Six-meter pieces of steel pipes, each less than a meter in width, are forced into the escape tunnel as the machine drills through. It is anticipated that the confined laborers will crawl out once the pipeway reaches the other end.

Twelve ambulances are stationed at the scene, together with a team of fifteen physicians, including experts in chest conditions, in readiness for the eventual rescue of the workers. The Chinyalisaur community health center prepared a separate ward to house all of the evacuated personnel. According to authorities, AIIMS, Rishikesh and all of the district’s hospitals are on alert.

On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi checked in with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to get an update on the rescue effort. With the use of an endoscopic camera inserted into the recently installed six-inch pipeline, the first images of the stranded workers were obtained early on Tuesday.