The operation to rescue 41 workers who were trapped 12 days ago in a tunnel under construction in northern India has entered its “final phase.” This after the authorities claimed to have overcome one of the last obstacles that separated them from the workers.
“I am pleased to inform you that all the steel that was obstructing the free movement of the pipe inside has now been removed. We are trying to move six meters ahead of the 45 meter mark, which we have already reached.” This was stated to the media by the special duty officer for the tunnel project, Bhaskar Khulbe.
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This progress was made known after the drilling towards the place where the workers are trapped was stopped by an iron obstruction.
“We hope there are no more obstacles in our path ahead,” he added.
A makeshift hospital with 41 beds, doctors, support teams, 41 ambulances, and helicopters wait outside the tunnel in the town of Silkyara, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, with the hope that the operation will be successfully completed today.
The head of government of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh, assured media from the field that the rescue is in “its final phase.”
41 workers have been trapped in a mountain tunnel in India for almost ten days after a landslide. pic.twitter.com/pYmXlXMg49
— RT in Spanish (@ActualidadRT) November 22, 2023
The workers were trapped in the early hours of November 12. It happened when a section of a tunnel under construction collapsed, causing a blanket nearly 60 meters thick.
The rescuers have been in contact with the workers since the day of the collapse using walkie-talkies. And, they provide them with food and oxygen thanks to a narrow pipe that was already present before the accident.
The rescue plan consists of creating a cavity in the rubble wall large enough to insert a pipe into it. It is almost a meter in diameter through which workers can exit.
As space is opened with tunnel boring machines, sections of pipe of about six meters each are introduced, while expert welders join each end. At least 45 meters of pipe have been inserted so far.
Until yesterday at midnight, the authorities estimated that about ten meters separated them from those trapped. According to rescue technicians, cited by Indian media, the auger used for the excavation is capable of drilling about 3 meters of debris in an hour if there are no setbacks.
