Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) : Rescue operations have been stepped up to bring trapped workers to safety from the collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand at the Silkyara site. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has deployed a C-17 transport aircraft to airlift critical equipment from Indore to Dehradun, the Uttarakhand state capital. Also, a five-member team from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) arrived at the spot to monitor and coordinate rescue operations.
In a post on X, the IAF said, "The IAF has continued with its operations to assist the ongoing tunnel rescue underway at Dharasu, Uttarakhand. An IAF C-17 has been deployed to airlift almost 22 Tonnes of critical equipment from Indore to Dehradun." The IAF swung into action to airlift critical equipment quickly following the halting of rescue operations due to failure of some machinery that was used at the site till yesterday.
It has been over seven days since the tunnel collapsed trapping about 40 workers. It has now come to light that another worker, Deepak Kumar, resident of Muzaffarpur in Gijas Tola is among the trapped taking the figure of those trapped to 41.
As of now, heavy machinery has been used to drill through up to 24 metres of debris in the collapsed tunnel till yesterday. Officials expressed the hope that they were inching closer to creating an escape passage for the trapped workers to come out safely.
The tunnel rescue team is racing against time to still drill the escape passage to insert 800 mm and 900 mm diameter pipes one after the other. In this time-critical mission, the IAF has also stepped in with its swift action to make critical equipment available at the rescue site.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is constantly taking updates regarding the rescue operation. The five-member PMO team comprises Mangesh Ghildiyal, Deputy Secretary, Varun Adhikari, Geologist Engineer, Mahmood Ahmed, Deputy Secretary, Bhaskar Khulve, OSD, Tourism and Armando Caplan, Export Engineer. Also, a few experts from Australian consultancy company and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited have arrived at the spot.
The third heavy auger drilling machine has arrived from Indore. Two such machines are already undertaking rescue operations but experts apprehended that the vibrations caused during drilling may increase the risk of debris collapse.
On Friday evening, NHIDCL Director Anshu Manish Khalkho had said that 22 metres of drilling work has been done with the American heavy auger machine. The drilling work had to be stopped as the machine had developed some fault.
