Vertical boring begins, and the rescue shaft reaches 20 metres on first day. After facing a setback as the American auger drilling machine suffered irreparable damage and its blades got stuck in the rescue pipes which were being pushed through the debris to create passage, rescuers started vertical working atop the hill to evacuate the 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarkashi since November 12 morning.
Rescuers began drilling into the hill above the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel Sunday, boring nearly 20 metres on the first day of adopting the new approach to reach 41 workers trapped inside for 14 days.
The vertical approach was one of the at least five options on which preparatory work had begun some days back, as anxiety mounted over the fate of the men trapped in the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand’s Char Dham route.
Rescue workers have to drill down 86 metres to reach the tunnel. By evening, the heavy drilling equipment had bored down to about 19.5 metres.
