Fourteen workers have been trapped in a collapsed section of the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi for more than two weeks. On Sunday, the Indian Air Force flew in “critical DRDO equipment” to help speed up the rescue.
“Responding with alacrity to the requirements of the ongoing rescue operation, late last evening the IAF flew in critical DRDO equipment to Dehradun. #HADROps,” the IAF said in its official statement.
An Auger drilling machine with stuck blades was flown from Hyderabad to the tunnel site earlier on Sunday so that a plasma-cutting machine could cut through them.
Even before the new machine got to the tunnel site early Sunday morning, the auger blades were already being taken out of the waste.
Over in the Silkyara tunnel, where 41 workers have been trapped for two weeks, a safety umbrella was thrown around it, according to official sources. The umbrella will protect the rescuers.
The workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel have also been given a landline so they can talk to their families and ease their stress. This was done by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
A BSNL worker named Kundan said that they are making plans to send a small landline phone to the workers who are stuck through the pipeline that was put in to help them get out.
“Through this, they will be able to talk directly to their families,” he explained.
Part of the tunnel collapsed on November 12, trapping 41 workers inside the still-being-built structure. Debris then fell on a 60-meter stretch of the Silkyara side of the tunnel.
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