The efforts to rescue 41 trapped labourers are progressing on multiple fronts with both vertical and manual drilling works taking off at an almost similar pace from atop the hill and inside the tunnel accordingly on Tuesday.
The workers involved in rat-hole mining inside the Silkyara tunnel to rescue 41 trapped labourers asserted confidence that the drilling work will be completed in 24 hours and the trapped labourers will be brought out soon as the rescue efforts entered 17th day on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the government and all the agencies together are leaving no stone unturned to evacuate the workers trapped in the Uttarakhand tunnel for the last two weeks and that we have to pray for them to get out safely and as soon as possible.
It is noteworthy that, at present, the rescue operation is going on in Uttarkashi to bring out the labourers trapped in the tunnel for the last 15 days.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Member Vishal Chauhan on Monday informed that the work of the manual drilling inside the Uttarkashi Tunnel can start anytime soon in the upcoming hours adding that a team of six members have been formed in this regard.
The company stated that it strongly condemns the attempts to link it to the incident. Adani Group or any of its subsidiaries have no direct or indirect involvement in the construction of the Uttarkashi tunnel.
With the rescue operations making swift progress, robotics expert Milind Raj said, on Monday, that the mental well-being of trapped workers will be monitored through robots adding that they are using a homegrown indigenous technology for the same.
A major rescue operation is underway after a cargo ship carrying 14 crew members including Indian crew members, sank off the coast of Lesbos island in Greece due to high-speed winds, Al Jazeera reported.
A delegation led by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Pramod Kumar Mishra took stock of ongoing efforts to rescue 41 trapped workers in Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi on the 16th day of the operations.
Micro tunnelling expert Chris Cooper informed, on Monday, that all the debris of the auger machine has been removed and manual drilling to reach the trapped labourers will start in a few hours.