This post brings together The Hindu‘s coverage of the Silkyara tunnel collapse and rescue in Uttarkashi over the days that followed.
Silkyara tunnel collapse | Trapped in the Himalayas
Published 2023-11-25T04:02:00+05:30
At the site of the Silkyara-Bend-Barkot-Tunnel collapse , 600-800 people swarm around a mountain already burdened with construction material and the fervour of 7.6 lakh pilgrims headed to Yamunotri, the source of the Yamuna river in Uttarakhand. Over 56 lakh people travelled to the four holy shrines — Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath — as part of the Char Dham Yatra this year.
It is 14°C in the afternoon, at about 1,100 metres, and above sea level, all that’s available by way of food is chawal and a watery dal , eggs, aloo paratha, and Maggi, India’s ubiquitous hill station staple. But the rescuers, workers, journalists, and villagers who have come to watch the operations don’t complain. Inside the tunnel, they know that 41 men lived only on dry food — puffed rice and nuts — for nine days, until a pipe 15cm in diameter was pushed through the rubble , and some warm khichdi passed down in bottles.
Read this dispatch on The Hindu
‘Canopy’ solution to restart drilling in Uttarkashi tunnel rescue, says Highways Secretary
Published 2023-11-19T17:02:07+05:30
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari arrived at the Uttarkashi tunnel site on November 19, where 41 workers have been trapped behind a pile of rubble near the south entrance for over a week. “A technical solution has been arrived at for the auger machine,” Mr. Gadkari told reporters, referring to the machinery used to drill through the rubble and insert a wide pipe out of which workers can crawl.
Anurag Jain, the Road Transport and Highways Secretary, said that this solution was to create a ‘canopy’ to secure the structure of the entrance, so that the drill does not disturb the tunnel’s structural integrity. The auger machine is the third such apparatus on site since rescue efforts started. Asked if it was working, Mr. Gadkari said it had, but it was unclear if drilling on this front had resumed. The machine had stopped drilling on Friday afternoon after the drill encountered hard material and led to “vibrations” that worried engineers that further rubble could fall.
Read this dispatch on The Hindu
Uttarkashi tunnel rescue | Authorities eye drilling from the top
Published 2023-11-18T20:08:24+05:30
Rescue workers at the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi started exploring other ways to reach workers, including from the top of the mountain face through which the tunnel is being constructed, officials announced on Saturday. The longer 170 metre route from the top, running simultaneously with other approaches, may take far longer to bore through than the approximately 60 metres of rubble at the southern entrance.
Rescue workers in the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi district had worked on Saturday to install a third ‘auger machine’ to pierce past this rubble, behind which 41 workers are estimated to be sealed (government estimates previously pegged the figure at 40), but even late into the evening, this machine had not started drilling. Bhaskar Khulbe, a former advisor from the Prime Minister’s Office deputed to the rescue site, put forth a 4-5 day tentative timeline for the workers to get out through any of the approaches happening now.
Read this dispatch on The Hindu
Silkyara Tunnel collapse | Drilling halted after laying of 24 metres of pipe in Uttarkashi
Published 2023-11-17T11:57:35+05:30
Rescue efforts to drill an 80 centimetre-wide pipe to rescue 40 workers stuck in a tunnel under construction at Uttarkashi were halted on November 17 due to “vibrations” that were disturbing the “surface equilibrium”, according to Anshu Manish Khalkho, director of the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation, which is building the tunnel. There are also reports that the machine used to drill the hole has been damaged, and Mr. Khalkho confirmed that a backup is being flown in.
The workers have been stuck since Sunday morning after rubble fell from the roof of the excavated section, trapping them behind several metres of rocks and possibly metal equipment. It was initially estimated that the drilling could be done at a speed of five metres an hour, but the possibility of further rubble and the risk of breaking the pipe has made authorities proceed at a slower pace.
Read this dispatch on The Hindu
Uttarkashi tunnel collapse | New drill machine off to a slow start; no definite timeline yet for rescue
Published 2023-11-16T13:52:28+05:30
Efforts to rescue 40 workers trapped in an under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand resumed on Thursday, as authorities proceeded with a plan to drill through rubble and insert a series of pipes through which the labourers could crawl out. The workers have been stuck under the rubble on a 2-km stretch since 5.30 a.m. on Sunday, and they are being supplied oxygen and food using narrow tubes.
Aprevious attempt to drill was called off as a smaller auger machine encountered falling debris, creating further obstructions and damaging the equipment. The new U.S.-made auger machine, flown to Uttarkashi from New Delhi by an Indian Air Force aircraft in three parts and assembled at the site, weighs 25 tonnes. Officials hoped it would be able to let them insert five metres of pipe each hour, but on Thursday, though, that pace could not be attained.