Uttarakhand tunnel rescue | Things are under control, says NDMA

The rescuers have completed 36 metres of vertical boring.

"After taking out the part of Auger that was stranded, the 1.9 metres that was cut, in that, the first 220 mm was pushed, and it got pushed... There was concern that it may not be pushed, but now we won't have to go on alternate... A time limit cannot be said, but let's hope and pray that minimum obstacles occur and we will be able to do this quickly..." said, Neeraj Khairwal, Secretary, Uttarakhand Government, as quoted by ANI.

Mahmood Ahmad, MD, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corp. Ltd., in a statement to the press said that "The work of vertical boring is also going on... Nearly 36 meters have been done... We have to do it nearly 50 meters more... We will take all actions, and we hope that we move forward quickly..."

Lieutenant General (Retd.) Syed Ata Hasnain, who is a member of National Disaster Management Authority, has said that even if it rains, the rescue operation will continue.

"Using the auger machine is not an option again as the auger was continuously getting stuck and the process of extracting it out was taking a lot of time. The process that is being used today is a little slow but reliable... As per the meteorological dept, a yellow alert is there from IMD which means light rains can occur but there is no possibility that our operatoin will be hindered because of this..." he told ANI.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is travelling towards the Silkyara tunnel site in order to take stock of the situation and observe the relief and rescue work which has been going on for last 16 days.

"We're making progress. I'm feeling very proud of the team with the progress we are making...It has not yet started (manual drilling). It will be started as soon as it's safe," International Tunneling Expert, Arnold Dix told ANI, in an interview on Monday. 

Principal Secretary to PM Modi Pramod Kumar Mishra and Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Sukhbir Singh Sandhu arrive at Syalna to visit the site of collapse on Monday.

As vertical drilling continues on second day, about 31 metres of distance was covered of the 86 metres of digging required to reach the trapped workers.

Meanwhile, labourers arrived on the site on Monday to carry out manual drilling after broken auger machine was completely removed from the pipe.

Skilled labourers will do the manual drilling by plasma cutters or conventional way.

Weather in Uttarakhand is expected to turn rainy on Monday, which could create further complications in the ongoing rescue operations. However, officials on the ground say they are prepared to deal with it.

Bad weather was approaching with thunderstorms, hail and lower temperatures expected in the mountains but rescue organisers said they would handle it. "They are trained in working in every situation so that's not a worry for us," said Mahmood Ahmad, managing director of the NHIDCL company, which is building the tunnel and helping with the rescue, referring to rescue teams.

As the rescue ops continue, officials are ensuring food and water supplies to the trapped workers are kept steady. The essentials are being delivered through 6-inch supply pipe.

During the rescue operation in Silkyara Tunnel, the stuck blade of the auger machine has been completely removed from the pipe. After this the manual drilling work will start.

Rescuers spent Sunday cutting through the blade of the drill and removing it piece by piece. A plasma cutter was brought in on Sunday from Hyderabad to cut and remove the drill blade. Meanwhile, vertical drilling also began Sunday afternoon. However, Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said that going horizontally through the collapsed debris in the tunnel was still the best option.