Uttarkashi Tunnel Collapse: As a week has passed and the rescue operation to save the 41 labourers trapped in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district is still on, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said they are ready with the equipment to overcome any obstacles. According to news agency ANI, a 900-mm disaster pipe was inserted with the help of an Auger machine. Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Sinha said, "We have reached 22 meters, and we are going ahead rapidly. There is a lifeline pipe for sending food and other necessary items. We are inserting another pipe above it because there is less debris there. There we have gone till 42 meters and only a few meters are left. We will have another pipe for life support when that becomes ready...".

Here Are Top Updates: 

- Secretary, Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways Anurag Jain announced on Sunday the decision to take up a five-option action plan.

- "The government has taken a decision to work on all fronts to save the precious lives of the labourers trapped in the tunnel at Silkyara. In a high-level meeting today, various options were examined based on technical advice and 5 options are to be pursued," he added.

- According to the news official, a road to the top of the hill has been laid in a single day for digging a vertical shaft down into the tunnel.

- Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who visited the site today, said that he expects the rescuers will be able to reach the victims who are trapped inside it in another two to two-and-a-half days.

- "If the auger machine works properly, we will be able to reach them (victims) in the next 2 to 2.5 days," Gadkari told the reporters from the tunnel site. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also accompanied the Union minister.

- Food, medicine, and oxygen were being provided to those trapped inside through pipes. Work is on for another alternate supply line in case of any exigencies that may arise in the first line.

- The Union Minister has also urged people not to draw any early conclusions about the incident. He has also asked to cooperate with us to keep the morale of the victims high.

- The Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Pushkar Dhami, said that the state government is ready to provide all the help required to the agencies involved in the rescue operation.

- The under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed in the early hours of November 12.