A member of the National Disaster Management Authority said the rescue could take a long time.
Uttarkashi/New Delhi:
The blades of the drilling machine that was drilling through the rubble of the collapsed Silkyara tunnel got stuck in the rubble on Saturday, forcing officials to consider switching to other options that could include rescuing 41 workers, the 13th Being trapped inside for days could delay it by several weeks.
Officials are now focusing on two alternatives: manually drilling through the remaining 10 or 12 meter section of rubble or drilling from 86 meters above ground.
Retired Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), urged patience and said in Delhi: “This operation could take a long time.” At the disaster site, international tunnel construction consultant Arnold Dix repeated his promise to get the workers out “by Christmas.” .
Manual drilling would require individual workers to enter the already-drilled 47-meter-long section of the escape passageway, drill in the narrow space for a short time, and then emerge to let someone else do the work.
This could begin as soon as the equipment stuck in the planned escape route is brought out, according to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
On Saturday, heavy equipment that had already been brought to the site was set up for vertical drilling that officials had previously said could take weeks. The trial, Mr. Hasnain said, will begin in the “next 24 to 36 hours.”
He pointed out that this is the faster of the two main options currently being considered.
Drilling operations were at a standstill for most of Friday, but the extent of the problem became known on Saturday when international expert Dix told reporters that the drill was “broken.”
“The drilling process is complete… the drill is broken and destroyed,” he told reporters.
“The mountain has resisted again, so we are reconsidering our approach. I am confident that the 41 men will come home,” he said, emphasizing that they are safe.
When asked about a timeline, he said, “I always promised they would be home by Christmas.”
The 25-ton drill, which is currently out of use, features an auger – a huge corkscrew-like device with a cutter at the end. Over an estimated total length of 60 meters, a horizontal passage of 46.8 meters has been created in the rubble.
Up to this point, a steel slide was pushed through in sections, to which the rotor blades were stuck, followed by the long screw.
About 20 meters of the auger in the shaft had been cut out, Mr Dhami told reporters. A plasma cutter will be flown from Hyderabad to cover the remaining 25 meters.
Once this happens, manual drilling would begin, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)