- By Anushka Vats
- Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:54 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: Seventeen days and counting, the wait for the 41 trapped workers continues as the efforts to evacuate them from the tunnel goes on. Micro tunneling expert Chris Cooper on Tuesday informed that the drilling has crossed 50 metres and only 5 to 6 metres of drilling is left to be done.
The latest visuals shared by ANI show manual drilling ongoing inside the rescue tunnel. An auger machine is being used for pushing the pipe. So far about 2 meters of manual drilling has been completed after it started on Tuesday. Let's take a look at the latest updates:
- A delegation led by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Pramod Kumar Mishra took stock of the situation. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Uttarakhand Chief Secretary SS Sandhu along with PK Mishra inspected the work inside the tunnel.
- On Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government and all the agencies together are leaving no stone unturned to evacuate the workers trapped in the Uttarakhand tunnel for the last two weeks and that people should pray for them to get out safely and as soon as possible.
- The rescue operation is being carried out by the multi-agency since a portion of the Silkyara tunnel in the Uttarkashi district of the northern state collapsed following a landslide on November 12.
- Notably, five options have been decided to evacuate the trapped men, and five different agencies were detailed to carry out these options.
- Among the trapped labourers, two each is from Uttarakhand and Assam, one from Himachal, eight are from Uttar Pradesh, five each from Bihar and Odisha, three are from West Bengal, and 15 others are from Jharkhand.
- The rescue operation faced a setback on Saturday after the American Auger machine, being used for horizontal drilling, was busted.
(With inputs from ANI)