Multi-prong ops on to rescue stuck workers

Even as rescuers were able to install a second "lifeline" pipe to supply food, water and better communication to 41 workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi for the past nine days on Monday, there are now multi-pronged efforts to drill through the debris to create a human passage through which they can be extricated.

- Amit Bathla

Senior officials said that groundwork was being laid by multiple agencies at five different access points where drilling will take place, two of these vertically downwards from the hills above the tunnel.

On November 12, a 4.5 kilometre under construction tunnel between Silkyara and Barkot in Uttarkashi, that is part of the Char Dham all weather project on the National Highway, collapsed with 41 workers inside.

Over the past nine days, at least three previous attempts made to create passageways that can extricate the men have been stymied because of the difficult terrain, machines being damaged because of rocks in the way, and fears about the structural stability of the already fragile tunnel.