Significant setback in Uttarkashi tunnel op as drilling tool breaks inside rescue pipes

Rescuers say the auger blades will have to be manually cut and taken out, which could take time

The fourteenth day of the rescue operation to save 41 construction workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel witnessed what rescuers believe is a significant setback, when the auger joint of the drilling machine broke inside the rescue pipes and blocked the passage.

The plan so far has been to drill through the roughly 60 metres of debris using a large machine with an auger (a spiral-shaped tool used to drill holes), insert pipes that are welded together in the space that’s created, and get the men out through those.

According to a bulletin released on Saturday morning, the auger was being pulled back after a new obstruction was observed at the mouth of the pipes. After it was pulled back roughly 15 metres (out of the roughly 45 metres of the length of the pipe), “the auger joint got broken”. “Efforts are ongoing to pull back the rest of the 32 metre auger left inside the pipe. Manual cutting of auger blades has been started inside the pipe to pull out the augers,” read the bulletin.