Possibility of 41 trapped Silkyara – Daandalgaon tunnel labourers likely to be safely evacuated by early morning, if drilling goes without any hurdle

There is a very good news that all the 41 labourers trapped inside the Silkyara – Daandalgaon tunnel in Uttarkashi would be finally evacuated safely at midnight or early morning on Friday after the 45 metres drilling has already been executed and pipes adequately fitted which will be used as a passage for the trapped laborers to be brought out on stretchers.

About thirty ambulances fully equipped with all the medical equipments, medicines and paramedics including doctors have been stationed near the tunnel since the last 24 hours which will carry the rescued labourers to a fully equipped newly constructed health center at Chilyanisaur in Uttarkashi.

The chief minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami who had reached Silkyara yesterday night today went inside the tunnel and spoke with the trapped labourers over phone assuring them that they will be evacuated safely at the earliest as the entire nation is praying for them and prime minister Narendra Modi taking personal interest monitoring the situation from New Delhi.

Pushkar Singh Dhami who flew back to Dehradun after telephonically conversing with the trapped labourers said that the prime minister spoke to him and assured of every possible support and cooperation. He is constantly in touch with me and worried about the situation directing to expedited the safe evacuation.

The drilling work has till now been done till 45 metres with only ten metres drilling and fitting of pipes left. The biggest success of the drilling team was to clear a huge bottleneck of iron rods/ girders that were the biggest obstacle as all the irons rods have been cutted and way cleared for further drilling and fitting of steel pipes. The people on the job manually went through the pipes and used gas cutters to cut the iron roads n girders after immense efforts. According to an expert since wide net of iron rods are fitted curved wise and tunnel built using tons of cement covering the net of rods to strengthen it, when a portion of the tunnel collapsed the iron rods also came down in large numbers which mixed with the massive concrete creating hurdles for the augur drilling machine which could withstand the roads and went out of order. Therefore, the persons dealing with the cutting works physically crawled with gas cutters etc inside the pipes and gutted the bottlenecks after long time finally clearing the massive hurdle of iron rods.

Kindly recall that after the clearance of the iron girders, the drilling work has been further commenced and pipes being fitted further.

There was tremendous muck, girders and Rockey stones on the way after the debris of the broken tunnel blocked the way.

The drilling machine was dismantled thrice and the auger machine had to be rectified several times. The internationally famous chartered engineer and expert Arnold Dix from Australia is playing a very important role who had three days ago assured that he will safely evacuate all the trapped workers sending immense relief to them and tell worried families who have stay put outside the tunnel and had protested as well.

The former advisor to prime minister Mr. Khulbe is also at the tunnel site monitoring the rescue operations for the last few days. The NDRF, SDRF rescue teams are stationed at the tunnel fully equipped, ready to enter the site where the 41 labourers are trapped to bring them out on stretchers safely after the drilling is completed via steel pipes .

The organizations that are involved in the drilling, fitting of pipes and other works apart from NDRF, SDRF , BRO are ONGC, NHIDCL, and experts sent from Delhi etc.

Meanwhile, according to ANI giving information on social media platform X pertaining to Silkyara tunnel rescue operation writes : The member of National Disaster Management Authority, Lt. General Syed At a Hasnain says, ” If no hindrance comes in the way and the auger machine continues to function st its speed of 4 – 5 metres per hour, then I can say that may be tomorrow during the day, you can receive the good news.

Kindly recall that 60 metres of pipeline is being installed inside the tunnel inserting it into the debris which is three metres wide.