Finance
Ambulances were on standby Thursday as rescuers dug through the final metres of debris separating them from 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks.
Rescue teams have fitted specially designed stretchers with wheels, prepared to pull the exhausted men through 57 meters (187 feet) of steel pipe once they drive it through the final section of the tons of earth, concrete, and rubble blocking their escape.
Emergency vehicles and a field hospital, as reported by AFP journalists at the site, stood ready to receive the men trapped since a portion of the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand caved in 12 days ago.
“We have done rehearsals on how to get people safely out,” National Disaster Response Force chief Atul Karwal told reporters Thursday.
“The boys will go in first,” he said. “We have placed wheels under the stretchers so that we can evacuate people one by one on the stretcher when we go in — we are prepared in every way.”
But repeated delays, including more debris falling, fears of further cave-ins, and drilling machine breakdowns, have hit rescue efforts. Further mechanical problems slowed progress on Thursday.
‘Himalayan geology is the enemy’
“The 10 to 12 metres (32 to 39 feet) remaining… we don’t know what can come up, but we are ready to handle it,” Karwal said, adding that the trapped men were “keeping up their morale”.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the work was on a “war footing”, with a “team of doctors, ambulances, helicopters and a field hospital” set up.
Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior National Disaster Management Authority official, refused to say when the men might be freed.
“This is like battle,” the retired general told reporters. “You cannot put a timeline on it. In battle, you don’t know what the enemy is going to do.
“Here, the land is your enemy. Himalayan geology is the enemy… it is very challenging work.”
Experts have warned about the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, large parts of which are prone to landslides.
“The rescuers and the workers stuck inside are at equal risk,” Hasnain added.
Prayers for safe release
Inside the Silkyara tunnel entrance, an AFP journalist said the site was a flurry of activity.
Worried relatives have gathered outside the site.
In expressing that the day Pushkar Singh Ary, his 24-year-old cousin trapped inside the tunnel, comes out will be the biggest and happiest day for them, Chanchal Singh Bisht, 35, conveyed his feelings.
In case the route through the main tunnel entrance does not work, rescuers also started blasting and drilling from the far end of the unfinished tunnel, nearly half a kilometre (over a quarter of a mile) long.
Preparations have also been made for a risky vertical shaft directly above.
On Tuesday, rescuers sent an endoscopic camera down a thin pipe, delivering air, food, water, and electricity, and it captured the workers’ first glimpse as they peered into the lens.
Though trapped, they have plenty of space, with the area inside 8.5 metres high and stretching about two kilometres in length.
The tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s infrastructure project.
