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Rescuers rest at the base of a road tunnel beneath a collapsed structure in Silkyara, northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, Friday, Nov. 24. Rescuers are scrambling to evacuate 41 staff members from the structure who have been trapped for about two weeks.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Attempts to rescue 41 structure workers trapped in a tunnel that collapsed for two weeks in northern India failed Saturday.
The drilling machine broke down Friday night as it tore through debris, rocks and metal, forcing rescuers to work by hand to remove the debris in hopes of finding the stranded painters, but the entire operation came to a halt.
Arnold Dix, a foreign expert helping the rescue team at the site in the mountainous state of Uttarakhand, said it was unclear when drilling would resume.
“The device has broken down. It’s irreparable,” he told reporters. “The mountain, once behind, resisted the auger (the device). “
Dix said rescuers would have to remove the entire drilling device and upgrade it to restart excavations. He specified how long it would take.
The workers have been trapped since Nov. 12, when a landslide caused a portion of the 4. 5-kilometer (2. 8-mile) tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 meters (650 feet) from the entrance. The region’s mountainous terrain proved a challenge for the drilling machine, which had already suffered two damages when rescue parties tried to dig horizontally towards the trapped workers.
The device stopped working after drilling about two meters (6. 5 feet) of the last 12-meter (40-foot) stretch of rock debris that would open a passage out of the tunnel.
Rescuers inserted pipes into the dug canal and welded them together to serve as a passageway from which the men on stretchers on wheels would be pulled. About 46 meters (151 feet) of pipes have been installed so far, according to Devendra Patwal, head of crisis management.
Meanwhile, a new drill used for vertical excavation arrived at the site on Saturday.
Vertical excavations are considered an alternative option to rescue trapped men, and rescuers have already created a path to the lower part of the hill. However, rescue teams will have to dig 103 meters (338 feet) to reach the trapped workers. , almost twice the distance from the horizontal axis.
Authorities provided trapped staff with hot foods such as rice and lentils through a 15-centimeter hose after days of surviving on dry food sent through a narrower pipe. Oxygen is delivered through a separate hose and more than a dozen doctors, plus psychiatrists, are available to help. monitor your health.
Most of those trapped are migrants from all over the country. Many of their relatives flocked to the site, where they camped for days to be informed of the rescue efforts and in the hope of seeing their loved ones back soon.
The tunnel that staff was building was designed as part of the Chardham All-Weather Road, which will link the Hindu pilgrimage sites. Some experts say the project, a flagship initiative of the federal government, will exacerbate fragile situations at the top of the Himalayas, where several cities are being built on the rubble of landslides.
A gigantic number of pilgrims and tourists visit the numerous Hindu temples of Uttarakhand, and their numbers are increasing over the years due to the continuous structure of buildings and roads.
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