DEHRADUN: Days of hope gave way to despair at the Silkyara tunnel as the US-made auger machine, which was pushing 800mm pipes to create an escape passage through the debris, developed a major snag after its blades were stuck in the rubble upon hitting a metal obstacle once again, the fourth time in the past week. The rescue of 41 workers — trapped inside the tunnel for 14 days now — “could take a longer time”, officials said on Saturday.
The latest bottleneck happened on Friday evening, when the machine had pushed the pipes 46.9 metres into the debris, just 10-12m from the workers, before its shaft and blades got damaged.
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“After encountering the obstacle, pulling back of the auger (rotating metal shaft) was initiated. About 15m of the auger came out initially but the machine’s joints got broken as it was badly stuck in the rubble,” a statement by National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), executing agency of the project, which is coordinating the rescue efforts, said.
Thereafter, rescue personnel went inside the escape passage and started cutting the auger into small pieces manually, using gas-cutting tools. Till the time of filing this report late Saturday, 22.6m out of a total 46.9m of the shafts had been cut, an official said.
The recent development, according to international tunneling expert Arnold Dix, implied that “the auger is irreparable now”. He said, “It is too much for it. It is not going to do anything more.” A senior official, who could not hide his disappointment, told TOI that “it’s very frustrating that we are encountering bottlenecks every few hours. It’s like hitting our heads against a wall.”
Later in the day, CM Pushkar Singh Dhami who has been camping at Matli near the tunnel site for the past few days, informed that a plasma cutting machine is being flown in from Hyderabad by NDRF to speed up the cutting. “The machine is expected to reach Dehradun by Saturday night. With its help, we would be able to cut 4m of metal objects in 1 hour, compared to 1m with current equipment,” Dhami said.
In Delhi, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) said that “the rescue operation could take a longer time”. “We need to maintain patience as we explore various options. It’s crucial not to exert undue pressure on the rescue workforce since this operation involves significant risks,” Hasnain said. He added that “two methods are being used currently, but a third method, the ‘drift’ method may also be used soon.”
Sources in the know said that they will persist with the strategy decided late Friday to get workers to remove debris manually and make way for the auger machine to push the pipes further. Despite being broken and unfit for drilling, the machine will be able to accomplish this manoeuvre still, the sources added.
As part of Plan B, preparations for assembling a vertical drilling machine for boring from the top of the hillock also started on Saturday. Officials said even though they are keeping the vertical drill option ready, “the focus will remain on manual digging since that offers the best hope for reaching out to the trapped workers soon”.
Meanwhile, in some good news, BSNL on Saturday established a remote telephone exchange at the site and prepared to send a wired phone to the trapped workers through the 6-inch supply lifeline. “The set-up will have both incoming and outgoing facilities. Through this, workers will be able to call their family members and receive their calls as well,” said Rakesh Chaudhary, DGM, BSNL. Sources said that board games have also been supplied to the trapped workers so that they can keep themselves occupied.
(With inputs from Dipak Dash)