Tunnel Escape Plan: Workers To Squeeze Through Pipes Less Than 3-Feet Wide
NDTV
The authorities are planning to bore through the rock and insert an 80 mm (around 2.pipe 5 feet) through which the labourers can crawl out. In case anyone is incapacitated or injured, "we can use stretchers and harnesses to bring them out," Mr Karwal told NDTV.
Five days after an under-construction tunnel collapsed in Uttarakhand and trapped 40 labourers, a piece of special machine has been flown to the spot to expedite the rescue work, Atul Karwal, the chief of National Disaster Relief Force, told NDTV during an exclusive interview. He said they are "hopeful" that the labourers could be brought to safety within "12 to 15 hours".
The American Auger drill is expected to cut through 70 meters of rock -- much of which came down from the roof during the rescue efforts -- in an approximate 12 to 15 hours. The machine works at a "theoretical speed" of 5 meters an hour.
The authorities are planning to bore through the rock and insert an 80 mm (around 2.pipe 5 feet) through which the labourers can crawl through. In case anyone is incapacitated or injured, "we can use stretchers and harnesses to bring them out," Mr Karwal told NDTV.