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After 17 days all 41 workers come out of Silkyara tunnel
PrashantNews (2118 hours)
The suspense-ridden 17 days long rescue operation on Tuesday made a major breakthrough as all the 41 workers, who were trapped since Nov 12, came out of the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand.
One by one, all these workers were brought out through the escape passage with the help of stretchers. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami received them outside the escape passage which was made after many glitches.
The workers were immediately rushed to nearby hospital in Chinyalisaur area of Uttarkashi district for medical checkup. Some workers also expressed happiness after they came out.
The rescuers using rat hole mining technique broke through the debris reaching the end part where the 41 workers were anxiously waiting. Rat hole mining is an old and hazardous technique to remove coal deposits through narrow passages in India.
Focusing on the horizontal mining through Silkyara side, the rat mining technique started yielding good results soon after a team of top experts and workers slowly started removing the remaining debris. By Tuesday evening, a total of 57-60 meter long MS pipe escape passage was built for the final evacuation of the workers.
As the horizontal operation through Silkyara side made breakthrough, the drilling from other sides were stopped.
On Friday, the auger machine which was drilling the debris was damaged after it hit some girder or steel rod. The machine was later withdrawn from the tunnel completely. Plasma cutters were brought to remove the remains of the auger machine inside the escape pipe. Once the remains were removed, rescuers used rat hole mining technique to evacuate the workers.
The workers were trapped on November 12 when a big portion of the 4.531 km long tunnel caved in. Initially, JCBs were used to remove debris. But when more debris fell, the authorities pressed auger machine to drill the debris to make escape passage for the trapped workers. But the auger machine on Friday developed some big fault and experts said it is now completely out of order. Ends