[1/6]Members of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) enter a tunnel where workers were trapped for ten days after the collapse, in Uttarkashi in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, November 22, 2023. Portal/Shankar Prasad Nautiyal LICENSES
SILKYARA, India, Nov 22 (Portal) – Rescuers hope to drill through the final third of rubble blocking a collapsed tunnel in India’s Himalayas by early Thursday to reach 41 workers who have been stuck for 10 days, said an official, provided they stay there. There are no new hurdles.
The men have been stuck in the 4.5-kilometer-long tunnel in Uttarakhand state since the November 12 collapse and are safe, with access to light, oxygen, food, water and medicine, according to authorities.
Authorities have not said what caused the tunnel collapse, but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods. Efforts to get the men out were slowed by obstacles to drilling in mountainous terrain.
As of Wednesday, rescuers drilled through 42 m (130 ft) of an estimated 60 m (197 ft) that needed to be cleared to push through a pipe wide enough for the men to crawl out, said Mahmood Ahmed, an official with the company who is building the tunnel.
“Many hurdles may come up but if not, let’s hope we all get some good news late at night or early tomorrow,” Ahmed, the managing director of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), told reporters.
Possible obstacles in the rubble could include large boulders, stones and metal beams, he said, adding that welding the evacuation tube together took more time than drilling.
A rescue mission is currently underway in the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarakhand to free 41 workers trapped inside after a landslide.
Initial images from inside the tunnel on Tuesday showed workers in white and yellow hard hats standing in the narrow space and communicating with rescuers after a medical endoscopy camera was pushed through a smaller pipeline.
The trapped men received fruit and cooked food after a second, larger pipeline was pushed through on Monday.
Toiletries and clothing were also pushed through, it said
Neeraj Khairwal, a rescue coordination officer.
“The workers are very positive and in a very good state of mind,” he added.
The 15 doctors on site include doctors and breast specialists, said RCS Panwar, the district’s chief medical officer, and there are 40 ambulances on standby.
The worried families of 11 of the 41 trapped men have reached the scene of the accident and can hardly wait to see them rescued. The prisoners are low-wage workers, most of them from poor states in northern and eastern India.
“I am worried and will be worried even though my brother is not out of this tunnel yet, but now it looks like the time has come,” said Indrajeet Kumar, who traveled from the eastern state of Jharkhand and is worried about his trapped brother. Vishwajeet.
Reporting by Saurabh Sharma in Silkyara; Writing by YP Rajesh and Shivam Patel
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