They are using hand drills to break up the rock and remove the debris so that the last remaining piece of pipe can be passed to the workers who have been trapped for 17 days
Five meters now separate the rescue crews from the 41 workers who have been trapped for more than two weeks in the debris of a road tunnel under construction that collapsed in northern India, the local government announced today, expressing hopes that they would be freed “soon”.
Steel pipe that will allow them to be retracted through it to the surface the trapped workers “has been introduced up to 52 meters inside the tunnel and is expected to pass (through the debris) to 57 meters (…) The rescue operation is expected to be completed soon,” said the head of government of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami to the journalists there.
After various obstacles, army engineers and mine workers use hand drills to break the rock and remove the debris so that the pipe can be passed on the last remaining piece to reach the 41 workers who have been trapped for 17 days.
A team of three men take turns digging and inserting the last sections of the steel pipe, which is just wide enough for one man to pass through, with the aim of bringing the trapped workers to the surface.
When one digs, the second removes the debris by hand and the third puts it on a cart, which is then dragged to the outlet of the pipeline, excavation expert Raiput Rai said today, quoted by the Press news agency. Trust of India.
Rescuers also have to cut through mesh of metal bars that prevents them from moving forward.
Chris Cooper, a tunnel expert advising the rescue team, expressed his optimism yesterday, Monday.
“It depends on the terrain,” he said. However, “we are convinced that we will succeed”.
Since the under-construction underground road tunnel collapsed on November 12, rescue operations have been complicated and delayed by falling debris and successive breakdowns of drilling rigs vital to rescuing workers.
The 41 workers have been kept alive for two weeks thanks to a supply of air, food, water and electricity through a pipe through which rescuers passed an endoscopic camera. It allowed their families to see them last week for the first time since the under-construction road tunnel collapsed.
Source :Skai
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