Uttarakhand Tunnel Rescue: Rescue efforts for the 41 workers trapped have entered final stretch
New Delhi/Dehradun:
The forty-one workers who are trapped under a collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand for 13 days will be pulled out on wheeled stretchers one by one through a big pipe that is being pushed through the rubble to reach them, officials have said.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) today demonstrated the use of stretchers to pull put out the trapped workers.
Every worker will be made to lie low on the stretcher to prevent their limbs from scrapping the welded pipe’s metal underside while NDRF personnel pull the stretcher with a rope, officials said.
Rescue efforts for the 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara tunnel have entered the final stretch. Workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand were seen for the first time on Tuesday as a camera inserted through a pipe captured their visuals.
An endoscopic flexi camera was pushed inside the tunnel through a six-inch pipe inserted through the rubble last night to send food for the 41 workers trapped since a portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12.
In the visuals, the labourers were seen in their hard hats and work gear, waving to the camera, communicating that they are coping well, given their trying circumstances.
The rescue operation was paused late last evening after a mechanical glitch. Officials said the rescuers have managed to drill the rubble up to 48 metres and another 10 metres remain to be covered to allow the trapped labourers to be evacuated.
This is the third time that the drilling exercise had been halted. Officials said the rescuers have managed to drill the rubble up to 48 metres and another 10 metres remain to be covered to allow the trapped labourers to be evacuated.
Over the past week, repeated attempts to rescue the workers have failed because of challenges including the topography and the nature of rocks in the area. The efforts were complicated by falling debris and landslides last week.
Officials said that all workers are safe and are being supplied food and water through steel pipes that have been drilled into the opening.
The under-construction tunnel is part of the ambitious Char Dham project, a national infrastructure initiative to enhance connectivity to the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri.
