3 days on, ops to rescue workers from U'khand tunnel intensify

Rescue workers on Tuesday started the process of inserting wide steel pipes through 40 metres of rubble of the collapsed under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district to evacuate 40 labourers trapped inside since Sunday morning, officials said.

- Amit Bathla

According to officials, 800and 900-millimetre diameter sections of mild steel pipes will be pushed through the debris horizontally one after another - using the auger drilling machine, for which a platform has already been made.

The drilling process using auger machine to push pipes through the debris may start late on Tuesday night, Uttarkashi district disaster management officer (DDMO) Devendra Patwal said. "Loose material [fresh debris] fell where auger machine has been placed. We have taken safety measures to protect the auger machine from damage.

The drilling using the auger machine is expected to start at around 10 pm," Patwal added.

Late on Tuesday night, Patwal said that the drilling started at around 9.30 pm but was again suspended due to a boulder coming in the way of auger machine.

In the exercise, eight 900-mm pipes and six 800-mm pipes each six metres long - will be used, officials said.

Authorities also called in experts from the state's irrigation department to push the steel pipes through the rubble.