Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse Latest News: Top PMO Officials, Foreign Expert Arrive At Silkyara Site

Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse Updates: The tunnel, which is being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway, caved in early in the morning on November 12.

ANI

With the rescue operations entering the 7th day today at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand, senior officials from the Prime Minister's Office and a foreign micro-tunnelling expert Chris Cooper have arrived at the accident site. According to reports, Chris Cooper is a Chartered Engineer with an experienced track record for delivery of Major International key civil engineering infrastructure, Metro tunnels, Large Caverns, Dams, Railway, and Mining Projects. He is currently a consultant for the Rishikesh Karnprayag rail project. The heavy-duty drilling machine from Indore has also reached the Silkyara tunnel site.

The operation to rescue 40 workers stuck inside the Silkyara tunnel has hit a roadblock as the drilling machine could only bore 25 metres into the debris and hit a metal object. Efforts are on to cut the metal object and resume the drilling operations. 

Anshu Manish Khulko, director of the tunnel-making company, NHIDCL, told news agency ANI over the phone that the drilling work has been put on hold for now. He denied that there was any problem with the machine, but did not give any reason for the suspension of the work. He said that the work of laying a pipeline to rescue the workers had been going on for the last three days, but only 25 metres of it had been completed so far.

khulko also said that the managing director of NHIDCL is expected to arrive at the site on Saturday and will give more details after reviewing the situation. On Friday, the Auger machine used for drilling stopped working after it encountered a rock face.

However, it resumed working in the afternoon. Another heavy-duty drilling machine, which was brought from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, is likely to reach the site later on Saturday. The tunnel, which is being built between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway, caved in early in the morning on November 12.

According to a statement issued by NHIDCL on Friday, the company building the tunnel, the excavation with concrete spraying for 40 metres of the collapsed tunnel is in progress and a gap has been created 10 metre above the top at both left and right side, and a chimney formation has started along the tunnel. The statement also said that an additional concrete spraying machine has been shifted from RVNL Package-lll to the work site.

The 4531-metre Silkyara Tunnel is a part of the Chardham Project of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and will connect the Gangotri and Yamunotri axis under the Radi pass area. The tunnel is being constructed by NHIDCL through Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd at a cost of Rs 853.79 crore.