Rescue workers at the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi started exploring other ways to reach workers, including from the top of the mountain face through which the tunnel is being constructed, officials announced on Saturday. The longer 170 metre route from the top, running simultaneously with other approaches, may take far longer to bore through than the approximately 60 metres of rubble at the southern entrance.
Rescue workers in the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi district had worked on Saturday to install a third ‘auger machine’ to pierce past this rubble, behind which 41 workers are estimated to be sealed (government estimates previously pegged the figure at 40), but even late into the evening, this machine had not started drilling. Bhaskar Khulbe, a former advisor from the Prime Minister’s Office deputed to the rescue site, put forth a 4-5 day tentative timeline for the workers to get out through any of the approaches happening now.
Mr. Khulbe said that experts had met and agreed to drill into the mountain around the tunnel from all sides — above, from the sides, and from the other end of the under-construction tunnel in Barkot, simultaneously. These efforts will play out along with the initial plan to drill into the fallen rubble from the Silkyara side. All these approaches present far more rock and rubble to excavate before the workers can be reached.
