'Uttarakashi tunnel operation getting technically complex': NDMA on rescuing trapped workers

With each passing day, the Uttarakashi tunnel rescue operation to bring the 41 trapped workers home is proving to be difficult due to technical snags. Now, Lt General (Rtd) Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has said that the rescue operation has become technically complex adding that rescuers are working in an environment of unpredictability.

However, Hasnain said that all the 41 men continue to be stable and safe.

#WATCH | Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) tunnel rescue | A part of the vertical drilling machine is being taken to the top of the Silkyara Tunnel as an operation to rescue 41 workers trapped here continues. pic.twitter.com/sHLOShZAq8

— ANI (@ANI) November 25, 2023

“You are seeing that this operation is getting technically complex. Earlier there were not many complexities and that is why some people in media were assuming timelines but we never gave timelines from our side. We are conducting rescue operations on hills. We are working in an environment of unpredictability,” he said during a press briefing on Saturday.

“I have experienced that when you do something with mountains, you cannot predict anything. This is exactly a situation like war,” he added.

Hasnain also informed that advanced machinery is being airlifted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) to replace the damaged part of the auger machine that broke down earlier today.

“The good news is that the 41 workers are stuck inside are stable. All the basic things are being sent. The relatives of the workers have also come, and they are talking to the workers. As far as the rescue operation is concerned, there are certain problems we are facing. There has been damage in the auger machine and some part of it has not come out,” Hasnain said.

The process of drilling will start in the next one or two days. “Two methods are being used currently, but a third method that is draft method may also be used soon. Currently, the situation is that the 47-meter digging has been done, we have to keep it stable and remove the broken part of the Auger machine,” the NDMA member said.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that a plasma cutter is being flown from Hyderabad to facilitate the cutting of the auger machine that is currently stuck in the debris of the Silkyara tunnel.

#WATCH | Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami took stock of the ongoing rescue operation to rescue 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi, earlier today. pic.twitter.com/74MyBko2fP

— ANI (@ANI) November 25, 2023

Apart from this, a 12-member team of the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) is on standby in case vertical drilling is required.

With inputs from agencies