The rescue operation to evacuate 41 workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in India's Uttarakhand has entered its final leg with authorities confident they will reach the men on Thursday.
A part of the 4.5km Silkyara tunnel in the town of Uttarkashi collapsed on November 12, trapping the workers.
Authorities have since been undertaking drilling work using an auger machine to insert pipes one after the other through the rock, through which workers will then crawl out.
Nearly 60 metres of debris needs to be penetrated to insert the pipes and authorities have succeeded in drilling through 48 metres. The auger machine gets through about three metres of debris in an hour.
The rescue work was expected to be completed on Wednesday evening but the machine encountered a metal girder inside the debris, damaging the equipment and temporarily halting the operation.
“The drilling work with the auger machine has resumed and we are hoping to not face any further obstructions,” Atul Karwal, director general of National Disaster Response Force said on Thursday.
“The hills have been throwing us challenges one after the other. All the rescue teams are on standby.
“The equipment has been customised and stretchers are on standby so we can take the workers out one by one. We are inserting two pipes. One has been laid, we are welding the second pipe.”
A team of doctors and 41 ambulances are waiting outside the tunnel and once the workers are rescued, they will be taken to nearby hospitals after being examined.
The tunnel is a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Char Dham all-weather road project, to improve connectivity to four Hindu pilgrimage sites in the state.
It is being constructed to connect two of the holiest Hindu shrines of Uttarkashi and Yamunotri.
Nestled in the lap of the Himalayas, Uttarakhand is known for its natural beauty and houses dozens of major Hindu temples, receiving tourists all year round.
But the ecologically sensitive region has been facing the brunt of climate change and rampant construction.
The state has been hit by disasters, including floods in 2013 that devastated Kedarnath, one of the holiest Hindu shrines, killing more than 5,700 people. A glacial lake burst in 2021, triggering a flash flood at a hydropower project construction site that killed at least 200.
Following the incident, the National Highways Authority of India undertook a safety audit of all 29 under-construction tunnels across the country to ensure safety.
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
