New Delhi: On Tuesday, the rescue teams attempted to communicate with the workers who are trapped inside the tunnel that is being built from Silkyara to Barkot, using walkie-talkie, as per the news agency ANI. The work of installing the pipeline inside the Silkyara Tunnel has begun by the rescuers. Earlier, the vertical drilling machine that was placed on the hilltop above the tunnel reached the Tunnel.
The rescue operations at the site of the Silkyara tunnel collapse here entered the ninth day, and the rescuers made a ‘breakthrough’ by inserting a pipeline of six-inch width through the debris of the collapsed section, where 41 labourers are stuck.
For the first time since they got trapped, hot Khichdi was delivered to the stranded workers through this 6-inch alternative lifeline.
On November 12, it was reported that a collapse occurred in an under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot due to a muck falling in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel, trapping 41 labourers.
According to the government, the labourers are trapped in the 2 km-long tunnel section, which is complete, including concrete work that provides safety to the workers. Electricity and water are available in the tunnel, and workers are provided food items and medicines through a 4-inch compressor pipeline.
Earlier in the day, rescue operation in-charge Colonel Deepak Patil said that their ‘main challenge’ is evacuating trapped men through a 900-mm pipe, which will be attempted later, food, mobiles, and chargers will be sent inside the tunnel through the 6-inch lifeline.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also had a phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and updated him about the rescue operations underway