DEHRADUN: Indian rescuers said Thursday that a powerful new drilling machine had been deployed as efforts to free 40 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel entered their fifth day.
Excavators have been removing debris since Sunday morning from the site of the collapse in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to create an escape tunnel for the workers, some of whom have fallen sick.
But rescue efforts have been slowed by debris continuing to fall as workers labored to clear the tunnel, with progress stalled after an earth-boring drill developed problems.
The air force flew in a second drilling machine on a C-130 Hercules military plane on Wednesday, with the giant drill bit stretching much the length of the aircraft’s cargo hold.
“Drilling is starting soon,” rescue leader Deepak Patil said Thursday.
Engineers are trying to drive a steel pipe about 90 centimeters (nearly three feet) wide through the debris, wide enough for the trapped men to squeeze through.
India has sought advice from the Thai company that rescued children from a flooded cave in 2018 as it races to save the men, as well as from engineering experts in soil and rock mechanics at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute.
Rescuers can communicate with the trapped men using radios.
Food, water and oxygen have also been sent to the trapped workers via a pipe — too narrow for people to escape through — as well as medicine.
No details have been given about the condition of the men or how many of them were sick.
Dozens of colleagues of the trapped workers protested outside the tunnel on Wednesday, blaming authorities for “slow rescue work,” one of the protesters told AFP.
The 4.5-kilometer (2.7-mile) tunnel was being constructed between the towns of Silkyara and Dandalgaon to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri, two of the holiest Hindu shrines.
The tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s road project aimed at improving travel conditions between some of the most popular Hindu shrines in the country as well as in areas bordering China.
Experts have warned about the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, where large parts of the state are prone to landslides.
Accidents on big infrastructure projects are common in India.
In January, at least 200 people were killed in flash floods in ecologically fragile Uttarakhand in a disaster that experts partly blamed on excessive development.
Indian rescuers drill to rescue 40 tunnel workers trapped for five days
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Indian rescuers drill to rescue 40 tunnel workers trapped for five days
- Excavators have been removing debris since Sunday morning from the site of the collapse in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand
- India has sought advice from the Thai company that rescued children from a flooded cave in 2018 as it races to save the men
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
