An operation to save 41 construction workers trapped for two weeks in a collapsed tunnel in northern India has stalled after a drilling machine used by rescuers broke down.
The machine was brought in to help drill through nearly 200 feet of debris, but it stopped working Friday night and crews were forced to remove it, officials said.
Instead, portable power tools will be used to cut through the last 30 feet of debris, they added.
“The machine is broken. It’s irreparable,” said Arnold Dix, a tunnel expert helping the rescue team in Uttarakhand state.
The workers, most of whom are migrant workers from around the country, were trapped on Nov. 12, when part of the 2.8-mile tunnel they were building collapsed about 650 feet from the entrance due to a landslide. .
The machine, called an auger, was damaged after hitting an obstacle and broke while being removed through a roughly 154-foot tube installed to help remove trapped men on wheeled stretchers.
Most of the trapped workers are migrant workers.HARISH TYAGI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Pushkar Singh Dhami, chief minister of Uttarakhand state, said the damaged drill would be removed on Sunday morning, allowing rescuers to continue working manually.
Rescuers are also following an alternative plan to reach the trapped men by digging downwards and a new vertical drilling machine was brought to the scene on Saturday.
However, the rescue team for the vertical drilling operation will need to dig 338 feet to reach the trapped workers, almost twice the distance of the horizontal well.
Authorities said the trapped men are safe and have access to oxygen, dry food and water.
Workers have been trapped since part of the tunnel collapsed on November 12. Department of Information and Pu/AFP via Getty Images Rescuers are also following an alternative plan to reach the trapped men by digging vertically. HARISH TYAGI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority overseeing rescue efforts, warned, however, that the operation was becoming “more complex” and that more time would be needed to save the men working by hand. , compared to the use of the auger. drill.
“We have to strengthen our brothers trapped inside. We need to monitor his psychological state, because this operation can last a long time,” he said, without giving a timetable.
Sunita Hembrom, whose brother-in-law Birendra Kishku, 39, is in the tunnel, said Saturday morning that the trapped workers were “very worried.”
Authorities have said the trapped men are safe and have access to oxygen, dry food and water. AP Rescue workers at the site of a tunnel collapse on the Brahmakal Yamunotri national highway.HARISH TYAGI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“My brother-in-law told me he hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday,” she said. “We are very worried”.
Authorities have not said what caused the tunnel to collapse, but the area is prone to landslides, earthquakes and flooding.
The tunnel being built is part of the all-weather Chardham Highway, a landmark federal project that will connect several Hindu pilgrimage sites.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn