A plasma cutter was brought in from Hyderabad on Sunday to remove parts of the auger machine stuck in the rubble inside the Silkyara tunnel, where 41 laborers have been stranded for the past 14 days. The complete disengagement of the machine is crucial for officials to resume the rescue work, which involves manually pushing pipes through the rubble to create an escape passage. In addition, a part of a drill machine has been sent to the hill above the tunnel for vertical drilling. A unit of Madras Sappers, an engineer group of the Indian Army, arrived at the site to assist in the rescue operations. International tunnelling expert Arnold Dix praised the progress and noted that the plasma cutter has increased the speed of cutting parts of the auger stuck in the rubble. Testing is also underway to determine the consolidation and composition of the rocks before the start of vertical drilling from the top of the tunnel.
The blades of the auger machine drilling through the rubble of the collapsed Silkyara tunnel got stuck Friday night, prompting officials to consider alternative options that could potentially prolong the rescue operation. On the 14th day of the multi-agency rescue mission, officials shifted their focus to two alternatives: manual drilling through the remaining stretch of the rubble or drilling down from above. The rescue effort began on November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand’s Char Dham route collapsed following a landslide, trapping the workers inside. The workers, who are confined to a two-kilometer stretch of the tunnel, are receiving food, medication, and other essentials through a six-inch wide pipe.
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