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.
As the vertical drilling makes swift progress, former Engineer-in-Chief and Director General of Border Roads Organisation, Lieutenant General (retired) Harpal Singh said that there is no other way left except the manual method to reach the trapped workers in the Silkyara tunnel.
In an effort to step up the rescue operations in Uttarkashi, a rat hole mining technique will be used through manual drilling to remove the debris inside the pipe on the 16th day of continued rescue efforts in Silkyara tunnel, according to officials.
Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) [India], November 24 (ANI): As the Uttarkashi tunnel rescue operations reached its final stage on Friday, the kins of trapped labourers wish for the safe return of their loved ones.
As per the Director of National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), Anshu Manish Khulko, the machine for vertical drilling from the upper part of the mountain above the tunnel will arrive in 1 to 2 days.
A six-inch pipe has been laid at the Silkyara tunnel through which nutritious food and medicines could be supplied to the 41 labourers, trapped for over a week after parts of the under-construction structure collapsed following a landslide.
As the rescuers race against time to evacuate the 41 trapped labourers into an under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi, a team of DRDO robotics has also reached their location to be of help.