Uttarakhand Tunnel Live: The workers are trapped in a built-up two-kilometre stretch of the tunnel
The rescue operations to evacuate 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district continued for the fifteenth day on Sunday.
Mahmood Ahmed, managing director of National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, said that multiple plans have been put into action to rescue the workers.
Vertical drilling, one of the several chalked-out options to bring out the workers trapped since November 12, is currently underway.
The Indian Army has also joined the operation and been tasked with the manual drilling.
Here are the LIVE updates on the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue:
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"Exercise Going On Smoothly": Official On Vertical DrillingVertical drilling is currently underway to create an alternative escape route for the 41 workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel in Silkyara.
Vertical drilling has gone up to 19.2 metres so far and the rescuers have to drill down 86 metres from above to reach the trapped workers.
"The exercise is going on smoothly and if it goes like this without facing obstructions, we can hope to finish it in four days by November 30," NHIDCL MD Mahmood Ahmed said at a press briefing today evening.
Vertical Drilling Of 19.2 Metres Done So Far: Official
Vertical drilling of 19.2 metres has been done on the first day to create escape passage for 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel, an official said today.
Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse Live Updates: Cooked Food, Fruits Being Provided To Trapped WorkersFreshly cooked food and fresh fruits are being inserted inside the tunnel at regular intervals, the central government said today.
Fruits like orange, apple, banana etc, along with medicines and salts, have been supplied at regular interval.
Additional dry food are also being supplied for future stock, the government said in an official statement.
15 Metres Drilled Through Vertical Drilling: Rescue OfficialDrilling to create a vertical escape route for the 41 workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel has began, an official said today, a day after an auger machine carrying out horizontal drilling broke down.
"Vertical drilling has begun and (a stretch of) up to 15 metres has been drilled already," NHIDCL MD Mahmood Ahmed told reporters in Silkyara.
6 Plans Being Deployed To Rescue Workers, Says Senior OfficialAs many as six plans are being deployed to rescue 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said at a media briefing today.
"Best plan so far is the horizontal drilling," he said.
Mr Hasnain also said that all the trapped workers have been getting their food and medicine.
"Medical and psycho-social experts are there and doing their work... All precautions are being taken for the safety of all," he said.
Uttarakhand Tunnel Collapse: Army Assists In Rescue Ops Uttarakhand Tunnel Live Updates: Vertical Drilling UnderwayVertical drilling, one of the several chalked-out options to bring out the workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel, is currently underway since today afternoon.
Two locations have been identified for the vertical drilling, and both are on the Silkyara side of the high-altitude under-construction tunnel.