Drilling work on hold at Silkyara tunnel

Rescue efforts at the Silkyara tunnel stalled as cracks appeared in the drilling machine platform, hindering the escape route preparation.

Pipe laid through the rubble to prepare an escape route for workers trapped at the Silkyara tunnel remained stalled on Friday morning with the platform on which the drilling machine stands being stabilised by shotcreting, an official said.

Boring through the rubble was put on hold again Thursday apparently after cracks appeared in the platform on which the drilling machine rests, in a fresh hurdle to the rescue of 41 workers trapped inside for 12 days.

The dampener came hours after the operation resumed earlier in the day, following a six-hour delay to cut through an iron girder that came in the way of the auger machine late Wednesday night.

This is the third time that the drilling exercise has been halted since the multi-agency rescue mission began on November 12 after a stretch of the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Char Dham route collapsed.