Uttarkashi tunnel crash: Rescue team begins operation to insert 6-inch pipe to maintain food supply

Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) [India], November 18 (ANI): As the rescue operation to save 41 trapped workers at Uttarkashi tunnel continues for the seventh day, the rescue team began the operation to insert the pipe inside the tunnel.
The team is trying to insert the 6-inch-diameter pipe instead of the 4-inch-diameter inch through which the supply of food and supplements will be maintained.
The operation began on war footing after Mangesh Ghildiyal, Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office, and Bhaskar Khulbe, former advisor to the Prime Minister and Officer on Special Duty, Uttarakhand Government, inspected the incident site earlier in the day and came up with a strategy after a discussion.

An important decision has also been taken in the meeting to airlift essential machinery, materials and resources from different parts of the country to reach Silkyara or to create a green corridor and deliver essential goods and machines by road.
Organizations and agencies across the country have been ordered to remain alert around the clock and cooperate with the arrangements.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army has now been tasked with constructing a track to the top of the hill so that the option of reaching out to trapped workers through vertical drilling can be availed of.
Speaking to ANI, Army official Major Naman Narula said that the Indian Army has been enrolled in the Siljyara tunnel rescue operation and given the responsibility of making a track to the top of the hill. We have started the construction work and will start drilling once the construction of the track is completed.
"150 soldiers of our own company are engaged in this work and a track of about 320 meters is to be constructed and then 80 to 120 meters needs to be drilled. "We will work on war footing and track construction will be completed by 9 am tomorrow. Wherever trees come in between, we will cut them," said the Army official," said Major Naman Narula.
The under-construction tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed in the early hours of November 12. (ANI)