Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue: Pipe Laying Work Completed, Good News Soon, Says CM Dhami

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday announced that the work of laying pipes in the Silkyara tunnel where 41 workers have been trapped for over 17 days has been completed and they will be pulled out soon.

"As a result of the immense grace of Baba Baukh Nag Ji, prayers of crores of countrymen and the tireless work of all the rescue teams engaged in the rescue operation, the work of laying pipes in the tunnel to take out the workers has been completed. Soon all the labor brothers will be taken out," he said on X.

According to Akshet Katyaal, MD of Accurate Concrete Solutions, the pipe has been cautiously inserted without any hurdle, a breakthrough has been achieved and the pipe has passed through. "The work to rescue labourers has started. There are at least 3-4 phases in the rescue operation...Teams of NDRF have entered inside. The labourers will be taken out once the ramp is made," he said.

Mahmood Ahmad, the MD of National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), said that "good news" will arrive by late evening.

"Vertical drilling is being done by SJVNL; drilling up to 44 metres out of the total 86 metres is complete...THDC executed 7th blast today. So, we gained another 1.5 metres. Work is ongoing, we have not stopped any of our various options. As far as horizontal drilling through the debris is concerned, the one being done inside the tunnel is complete up to 55.3 metres. We are doing this through manual excavation.

After that, we do de-mucking. Pipe pushing follows this...Perhaps we will need 5-6 metres more. We are now pushing in smaller lengthened pipes. We are hoping for good news by late evening," ANI quoted him in a tweet.

On the other hand, ambulances and NDRF personnel have been deployed at the entrance of the tunnel. The NDRF team will be going inside the tunnel to bring out the trapped labourers one by one, ANI reported citing official sources.

During a press briefing earlier today, the Nodal Officer for the Silkyara rescue operation and Secretary to the Uttarakhand government, Neeraj Khairwal, informed that if there are no more hurdles, the rescuers are anticipating an early evacuation of the trapped labourers.