Uttarakhand tunnel: Auger machine hits metal object, drilling halted again
This is the fourth time that the drilling exercise has been halted since the multi-agency rescue mission began.
This is the fourth time that the drilling exercise has been halted since the multi-agency rescue mission began.
This is the fourth time that the drilling exercise has been halted since the multi-agency rescue mission began.
Uttarkashi: Drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel to rescue 41 men trapped inside for 12 days was halted again on Friday, officials said.
Officials said the auger drilling machine faced a hurdle, apparently a metal object, soon after drilling resumed Friday, a day after officials had put the operation on hold following a technical snag.
That snag was set right earlier in the day and the 25-tonne auger machine was restarted. But after a brief while the operation had to be stopped again in the second setback in two days.
The multi-agency rescue effort began November 12 when a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed, trapping workers who were still inside.
Rescue workers said in the evening that the drill bit had been pulled out through the passage already bored by the machine.
Sections of steel pipes had been inserted into the bored passage to allow the trapped men to be pulled out. The effort had reached up to 48.6 metres out of the estimated 57 metres of rubble that block the tunnel, officials had said earlier in the day.
Pipe laying through the rubble to prepare the route for workers had remained stalled on Friday morning with the platform on which the drilling machine stands being stabilised by shotcreting (spraying concrete or mortar with either a dry or wet mix process).
Boring through the rubble was put on hold Thursday apparently after cracks appeared in the platform on which the drilling machine rests, in a fresh hurdle to the rescue of 41 workers trapped inside for 12 days.
The dampener came hours after the operation resumed earlier in the day, following a six-hour delay to cut through an iron girder that came in the way of the auger machine late Wednesday night.
This is the fourth time that the drilling exercise has been halted since the multi-agency rescue mission began on November 12 after a stretch of the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand's Char Dham route collapsed.
Board games, playing cards to relieve stress
Rescuers plan to provide board games and playing cards to the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel.
Late on Thursday, boring through the rubble of the collapsed tunnel was put on hold again, apparently after cracks appeared in the platform on which the drilling machine rests.
Dr Rohit Gondwal, one of the psychiatrists at the rescue site, told PTI, "We are planning to provide ludo and chess boards and playing cards to help them (trapped labourers) relieve stress. The operation is getting delayed and it appears that it will take some more time."
He said all 41 workers are fine but need to stay healthy and mentally fit.
"They told us that they play 'chor-police', do yoga and exercise daily to de-stress," Gondwal said.
Speaking on the mental health of the trapped workers, another medical expert said their morale needs to stay high and they must remain motivated. A team of doctors speaks daily to the workers and asks about their health and mental conditions.
A team of a dozen doctors, including general physicians and psychiatrists from Uttarkashi and Dehradun, are stationed at the site.
The officials said the team members regularly talk to the trapped labourers -- for at least for 30 minutes in the morning and the same duration during the evening.
(With PTI inputs.)