National Disaster Management Authority Member, Lt General (Rtd) Syed Ata Hasnain on Tuesday said that the entire operation to evacuate workers from the Silkyara tunnel will take 3-4 hours adding that they are not in a "hurry."
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been monitoring and taking regular updates on the well-being of two workers from the Kokrajhar district, who are among the 41 trapped inside an Uttarkashi tunnel, a portion of which collapsed on November 12, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) infor
Due to the rescue operation, a temporary medical facility has been expanded inside the tunnel. After evacuating the trapped workers, health training will be done at this place.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the pipe laying work inside the Silkyara tunnel where the efforts to bring out 41 trapped workers is underway has been completed.
Amid high anticipation of an early evacuation of the trapped labourers in Silkyara tunnel, Micro tunnelling expert Chris Cooper said that the vertical drilling works have been stopped and they are focusing on manual drilling which is progressing on a swift pace.
Nodal Officer for the Silkyara rescue operation and Secretary to the Uttarakhand government, Neeraj Khairwal, during a press briefing on Tuesday, informed that if there are no more hurdles, the rescuers are anticipating an early evacuation of the trapped labourers.
With operations to safely evacuate 41 trapped labourers out of the Silkyara tunnel underway, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the ongoing rescue and relief efforts from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami via call on Tuesday.
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.