"We Are Near A Breakthrough, But Not Yet There": Official on Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue

“We are near a breakthrough, but not yet there,” said Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd.), member of National Disaster Management Authority of India, as he was sharing the latest update on the rescue operation being undertaken at the Uttarkashi Silkyara tunnel where 41 workers have been trapped for the past 17 days. He was addressing a press conference in Delhi to share the latest updates on the tunnel rescue operation.

Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain also mentioned that the rescue operation that is going on for more than two weeks may take “the entire night”, however the preparation to receive the workers as they come out, including providing them with medical aid, is ready.

“Manual drilling was carried on, full night yesterday. Our miners have been doing this very difficult work in enclosed space, along with Army engineers. They have been able to take it to a distance of 58 metres, from 47 metres yesterday evening, which is a phenomenal achievement. We would need to push the pipe inside for a further distance of 2 metres,” he added.

Amid the ongoing efforts to rescue the 41 workers trapped inside Uttarkashi’s Silkyara tunnel, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had earlier informed that the pipes have been inserted up to 52 metres through the rubble at the tunnel. Earlier on Monday, a team of “rat-hole” mining experts joined the rescue operation as manual drilling and excavation horizontally using the rat-hole mining method started.

While addressing a press conference in Delhi, Vishal Chauhan, Member of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) said that the NHAI has again started the work of audit of all tunnels. “We are working on this with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and one other agency,” he added.