As the rescue operations have intensified at the Silkyara tunnel collapse site in Uttarkashi where 41 workers remain trapped, about 67 per cent augur drilling has been completed with horizontal pipe being inserted up to 45 metres, an official statement said on Wednesday.
Former advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office, Bhaskar Khulbe on Wednesday said that work for the next phase will start in another two hours.
Khulbe who is also the Special Executive Officer in the Uttarakhand Tourism Department, said, “I am very happy to tell you that with the work we were doing for the last 1 hour, we have drilled another 6-meter length with an American Oger machine. I am hopeful that in the next 2 hours, work will start for the next phase.”
The official announcement of laying a 39-meter pipeline was made in the earlier press conference.
With 6 meters of additional pipeline, the total work of laying the pipeline up to 45 meters has been completed.