‘Focus on horizontal drilling to rescue workers trapped in Uttarkashi Tunnel’

New Delhi, Nov 21: The focus is on horizontal drilling to bring out alive all the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi and vertical drilling will only be the second-best option, said officials on Tuesday.
Briefing reporters on the rescue efforts, National Disaster Management Authority member Lt General (Retd) Syed Atta Hasnain said that simultaneous efforts are being made on five fronts to save these trapped workers.
He further said that the “focus is on horizontal drilling” as rock formation has created challenges for vertical drilling.
Anurag Jain, Secretary of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said that under the current circumstances “vertical drilling is the second best option”.
Hasnain further informed that the new six-inch wide pipeline will be used to provide warm food and medicines to trapped workers.
Currently, the survival ration is being provided to the workers through the four-inch wide pipeline. He also added that equipment will be pushed through the six-inch pipeline to ensure better communication with the trapped workers. This will also help in raising the morale of workers.
NDRF teams are doing rehearsal at the site to deal with any contingency that may arise during the course of rescue operations, Hasnain said.
Fresh pictures that emerged from the site of the Silkyara tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand showed that the 41 labourers trapped inside were mostly safe, an official said on Tuesday, adding that those engaged in the rescue operations will now try to drill the tunnel vertically to create an evacuation passage.
Thick pipes have been brought to the Silkyara Tunnel by helicopter from Odisha and a large vertical drilling machine has been brought to create the evacuation passage.
These heavy-duty pipes and the vertical drilling machine will be taken to the mountain above the tunnel for boring, officials said.
Arnold Dix, an international tunneling expert from Australia, is leading the rescue operation. (Agencies)