Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse: Rescuers Mull Manual Drilling And Other Alternatives To Save Trapped Workers As Auger Machine Breaks

The rescue operation at the Silkyara tunnel, where 41 workers have been trapped for over 13 days, has hit a snag as the auger machine used for drilling through the rubble has encountered several obstacles and broken down inside the rescue pipes.

According to an official announcement made at 8 am on Saturday (25 November), the heavy drill machine, which was being used to penetrate nearly 60 meters of debris, sustained damage on Friday and required complete removal.

Rescuers are now contemplating alternatives such as manual drilling, Indian Express reported.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reported on Friday that there had been no advancement in moving the pipe through the debris in the Silkyara tunnel since Thursday.

By Friday evening, around 15 metres remained to be cleared to reach those trapped after a section of the tunnel on the Uttarkashi-Yamnotri road collapsed on 12 November.

The men stuck in the Uttarkashi tunnel hails from various states.

While fifteen of those are from Jharkhand, eight are from Uttar Pradesh, five each from Odisha and Bihar, three from West Bengal, two each from Uttarakhand and Assam, and one from Himachal Pradesh.

On the fourteenth day of the mission to rescue 41 trapped construction workers from the still-under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel, rescuers encountered a major obstacle.

The auger joint of the drilling machine, crucial to the operation, broke within the rescue pipes, effectively blocking the passage.

The plan so far has been to drill through the roughly 60 metres of debris using a large machine with an auger (a spiral-shaped tool used to drill holes), insert pipes that are welded together in the space that’s created, and get the men out through those.