International tunnel experts pray at Baukh Nag Temple before proceeding to the site of the accident

41 workers were trapped in the tunnel for nine days

Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) – Even after nine days since the crash of the Silkyara tunnel trapping 41 workers, the rescue operation is being carried out on a war footing. In addition, Professor Arnold Dix, the President of the International Tunnelling Underground Space Association and an international tunnel expert reached Uttarkashi on the 20th of November 2023 in the morning. Prof Dix, hailing from Australia, performed puja at Baba Baukh Nag Temple before taking a review of the rescue operations.

Dix has identified two spots for vertical drilling.

On the other hand, Jaswant Kapoor, the Chief Engineer of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, which is a public sector undertaking, said that two more drilling machines were called from Gujarat and Odisha which weighed about 77 tonnes and would reach the site by the 22nd of November 2023.

The Border Road Organisation has prepared 900 metres of the road, out of 1,200 metres, for vertical drilling machines.

The rescue operation, undertaken in the last seven days with the help of 4 machines under 3 plans, has failed. Now, as per the new plan, nine companies will dig tunnels from five sides, at the same time.

On the 12th of November 2023, a section of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel collapsed, and the landslide occurred 60 metres inside from the entrance point of this tunnel, trapping 41 workers. During the rescue operations, a few more rocks fell down, and the total rubble spread over 70 metres area. The workers trapped in the tunnel are from different States, viz. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, and Odisha.