Plasma Cutter Flown in to Rescue Workers Stuck in Silkyara Tunnel
A plasma cutter was flown in from Hyderabad on Sunday to cut and remove parts of the auger machine stuck in the rubble inside the Silkyara tunnel, where 41 laborers have been stranded for the last 14 days. The complete disengagement of the machine is necessary for officials to resume the rescue work, which involves manual pushing of pipes through rubble to prepare an escape passage.
Additionally, a part of a drill machine has been sent atop the hill, above the tunnel, for vertical drilling. A unit of Madras Sappers, an engineer group of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army, also arrived at the site to assist in the rescue operations.
International tunnelling expert Arnold Dix commended the progress so far, stating that the plasma cutter has increased the speed of cutting parts of the auger stuck in the rubble. The work is currently underway to fully remove the auger from the passage where it is stuck.
In addition to the above measures, officials have begun conducting tests to determine the consolidation and composition of the rocks ahead of the start of vertical drilling from the top of the tunnel from the Silkyara side.
The rescue effort began on November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand’s Char Dham route collapsed following a landslide, cutting off the exit for the workers inside. The workers, who are in a built-up two-kilometer stretch of the tunnel, are being sent food, medicines, and other essentials through a six-inch wide pipe.
