No movement in Silkyara on Friday, as drilling snags keep rescuers and workers about 10 metres apart

Rescue teams struggle to reach 41 trapped workers in Silkyara tunnel; progress made on alternative rescue efforts. Teams fix snags in drilling machine, use radar to scan debris ahead. CM visits site, briefs PM Modi.

Rescue teams were not able to move even an inch closer to the 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel by November 24 evening, as the entire day was taken up in fixing snags in the drilling machine and using radar to scan the debris ahead for any further obstacles. There are only ten metres of debris left between rescuers drilling in from the Silkyara end and the trapped workers, but officials say it is difficult to anticipate when this last leg of the operation will be completed.

Some progress has been made on alternative rescue efforts by boring vertically into the tunnel, as well as drilling efforts being made from the other Barkot end.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the tunnel site on November 24 afternoon and also briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the rescue operation, which is now in its 13th day.

The basic plan is to bore a hole in the debris and push in wide pipes which are welded together, through which the workers can be brought back out. A senior official involved in the Silkyara-end operation recapped the progress so far: the auger drilling machine started work in the early hours of November 22 but had to stop that evening as it struck an iron lattice girder, one of the structural elements of the tunnel. Gas cutters removed this hurdle overnight.

On November 22, the machine pushed a ninth pipe in for just 1.8 metres, before vibrations were noticed and drilling was halted again at the 48-metre mark. Late on November 23 night, it was found that a bent part of the forepole from the tunnel lining was stuck in the auger assembly, leading to the vibrations. The teams then worked to strengthen the auger machine’s platform using an accelerating agent for the rapid hardening of concrete.

“By November 24 morning, the platform for the auger machine was strengthened by way of anchoring, bolting, concreting foundation, etc. But work couldn’t resume as the auger was needed to further pull back fully to assess any other damage to the pipe,” the official said.

The rescue teams also used ground penetration radar to scan for any further obstacles lying ahead, said senior Uttarakhand government official Bhasker Khulbe, a former advisor to the PM, adding that the scan showed that there are no major hurdles like rocks or iron objects in the next five metres of debris.