The trapped workers inside the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand could be reached tonight or tomorrow morning if the horizontal drilling goes on unhindered, officials said on Wednesday.

Portions of the tunnel had collapsed following a landslide on November 12, leaving 41 workers trapped behind a huge mound of debris. The tunnel, about 30 km from the district headquarters of Uttarkashi and a seven-hour drive from Dehradun, is part of the Char Dham all-weather road project of the central government.

Mahmood Ahmed, additional secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said the current focus of the rescue operation is on horizontal drilling from both ends of the 4.5-long kilometres tunnel.

He said auger machine being used for horizontal drilling was able to insert 18 meters additional in the 800 mm steel pipeline in nearly 12 hours after the work was resumed around 12.45 am on Wednesday.

“Drilling was resumed at 12.45 am today. If it remains unhindered, we will be able to get some good news late tonight or tomorrow morning,” he said.

Ahmed, who also heads the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL), added, “I am happy to share with you that three more 800 mm steel pipes were pushed in the drill measuring 18 meters. This is in addition to the 21 meters escape passage ready. Thus so far 39 meters escape passage work is done.

“But as we said earlier, we will not be able to do anything with confidence till 45-50 meters drilling is not over. We hope that two to three more similar pipes are pushed in the drill when we meet for the next bulletin,” he said.

The senior official added that another horizontal drilling is being carried out from the Barkot end of the tunnel, and three blasts were done resulting into almost 8 meters of drilling.

A five-point strategy was hammered out on Monday by the authorities and experts to start the rescue operation from the scratch. Vertical drillings on top of the tunnel were planned to airlift the workers as horizontal drilling from Silkayara village end was obstructed by a hard material under debris. The horizontal drilling was stopped for more than two days.

Uttarakhand secretary Neeraj Khairwal said similar to the video communication made with the trapped workers, the NDRF and SDRF teams were able to set up an audio channel for regular communication.

“First ones to speak to the trapped workers were doctors who tried to know about their health conditions. A few of the workers complained of constipation following which they were sent medicines. Psychiatrists are also speaking to them to monitor their mental state. The workers are otherwise upbeat and motivated after a special food pipeline was set up and they were told about the efforts being made to rescue them safely,” he said.

Khairwal said sufficient number of food items have reached the workers after the initial hiccups. “They are also being provided undergarments, towels, tooth brushes and other basic items through the food pipeline,” he said.