Uttarakhand avalanche | Drilling operation launched at Tapovan tunnel to rescue trapped workers

Rescuers launched a drilling operation on Thursday at the Tapovan tunnel, the place an estimated 30-35 individuals have been trapped since a flash flood battered varied villages and hydro-power initiatives in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, claiming 34 lives, whereas about 170 people are still missing.

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The point of interest of the multi-agency rescue operation for the final over 4 days stays the more-than-1.5-km-long “head-race tunnel” of the full 2.5 km of the tubular construction, as each passing minute is mounting considerations over the protection of these trapped inside.

“A drilling operation has been started by the rescue teams at 2 am to peep into the slush-flushing tunnel that is about 12-13 metres below,” Vivek Kumar Pandey, the spokesperson for the lead rescue company, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), stated in Delhi.

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As the continual circulation of slush and silt stays a significant impediment between the rescuers and people trapped contained in the tunnel, a boring operation by an enormous machine is being undertaken to see if this downside will be addressed differently and the groups can go additional deep inside, he stated.

Till Wednesday, about 120 metres of slush from the mouth of the tunnel was cleared and people trapped inside had been acknowledged to be positioned someplace at the depth of 180 metres, the place the tunnel takes a slip or a flip.

“More slush and water coming from inside the tunnel is making the way ahead difficult,” Pandey had stated on Wednesday.

ITBP chief S S Deswal informed on Wednesday that his males and people from different businesses will proceed with the rescue operation until “any length of time” or until a logical conclusion is arrived at and the trapped workers are positioned.

“My boys are determined to locate those trapped…,” the ITBP director normal had stated in Delhi.

He had expressed hope that these trapped inside is perhaps secure with the assistance of potential air vents within the construction.

“No doubt that these trapped or lacking contained in the tunnel should be in a foul scenario as they’ve had no meals and water for nearly 5 days now.

“But there is hope against hope that they are surviving somehow as the temperature inside the tunnel is about 20-25 degrees Celsius and some oxygen is possibly available to them,” an officer engaged on the bottom stated.

Workers at the 480-MW Tapovan-Vishnugad hydel energy undertaking of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) acquired trapped quickly after the swollen Alaknanda river got here hurtling down and washed away the whole lot with its livid velocity on Sunday.

Apart from the over 450 personnel from the ITBP, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the Army, the members of the family of these trapped inside have stayed put exterior the tunnel in anticipation of a excellent news.