Guwahati: The rescuers are at the final stages of reaching the 41 workers trapped since November 12 when the under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot got blocked due to debris falling in a 60-meter stretch on the Silkyara side.
On Wednesday night, a senior official expressed his confidence that rescuers would reach workers by 8:30 am on Thursday.
“We have inserted pipes 44 meters via horizontal drilling. However, we have found some steel rods in the debris. The machine couldn’t cut those rods. Therefore, NDRF personnel will cut those rods following which we will use the machine again,” said rescue officer Harpal Singh.
“I have full confidence that steel pieces can be cut within an hour and in the next 5 hours two pipes can be pushed in and the rescue operation could start,” he said.
An official statement issued stated, “Silkyara rescue operation is now in the final stages. The NDRF team is deployed to rescue the workers. An ambulance is deployed inside the tunnel and a team of doctors is deployed in the CHC located at Chinyalisaur for health check-ups of the workers. Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami himself is also present in Uttarkashi.”
The rescue operation has been ongoing for the past 12 days and everyone is praying for safely rescuing the trapped workers at the earliest and the government authorities are working round the clock to achieve this.