Uttarakhand: Rescued workers flown to AIIMS Rishikesh in Chinook helicopter
The workers have been shifted to AIIMS Rishikesh for further medical check-up.
The Uttarakhand tunnel rescue operation entered day 5 on Thursday with authorities racing to extract 40 construction workers trapped inside a buffer zone of the tunnel. An American drill machine has been airlifted to the spot from national capital Delhi to drill a a 900 mm hope through the debris. The machine has already started working and rescue teams are hopeful that it’s a matter of hours before they extract the stranded workers.
Here are the 10 points on what we know so far about the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue operation:
- On November 12, when the country was busy in Diwali celebrations, a part of the Silkyara Tunnel project collapsed due to a land slide, trapping 40 construction workers inside it.
- The construction workers are trapped in a 300 meter buffer zone and are able to walk and breath.
- Rescue teams have been able to communicate with the trapped workers through walkie-talkies and they are said to be in good health.
- The trapped workers are being provided with essential supplies of food and medicines and oxygen.
- Experts from Norway and Thailand, who successfully rescued children trapped in a Thai cave in 2018, have also joined the rescue operation.
- An ‘American auger’ machine has been brought to the spot from New Delhi to accelerate the drilling and clearing process.
- One the debris are cleared, 800-mm and 900-mm diametre segments of mild steel pipes will be installed, one at a time.
- One installed, the workers trapped on the other side of the rubble will be able to crawl out safely.
- Earlier on Wednesday, the rescue efforts faced a setback after fresh landslide destroyed the platform constructed for the American augur machine.
- Uttarakhand chief minister Pushakar Singh Dhami has been continuously monitoring the situation.
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