A portion of the tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal- Yamunotri national highway collapsed in the early hours of SundayNearly three feet diameter pipes will be pushed through the heap of debris by drilling a hole using auger drilling machines in the tunnel where 40 labourers have been trapped arrived at the accident site where an under construction structure collapsed in Uttarakhand on Sunday night, a National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) senior official said on Tuesday morning.The official said, “These three feet diameter pipes arrived early this morning from Haridwar. We will now push them through the piled up debris to create a hole to evacuate the trapped workers.”
He, however, didn’t give the expected time that the process will take to complete.
A total of eight pipes have arrived at the spot from Haridwar in trucks, while more will arrive later.
The rescue teams involving National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), police and other teams were able to cut through around 20 meters of debris of the total 55-60 metres but due to unforeseen circumstances the soil fell again due to which the excavation was reduced to just 14 metres.
A portion of the tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed in the early hours of Sunday.
Officials said the trapped workers are safe and have access to oxygen through cylinders and a pipe inserted through the debris.
They have also been provided with food items through the water pipe with compression.
The Uttarakhand government on Monday formed a technical committee under the chairmanship of the director Uttarakhand Landslide Mitigation and Management Center to study and investigate the causes of the collapse.
The committee has been mandated to prepare a report on the incident and submit the same to the state government. According to officials aware of the matter, the committee will have experts from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, the Central Building Research Institute, the Geological Survey of India, and the
