160 hrs and counting: Hope flickers for 2 workers trapped in tunnel

Mangalore Today News Network

Himachal Pradesh, Sep 19, 2015: Hope still flickers for two workers who are trapped for more than 160 hours after an under-construction tunnel collapsed in Himachal Pradesh last Saturday.

 

Three workers of Himalayan Construction Company were trapped in tunnel number 4 of the Kiratpur-Manali four-lane project when a part of it collapsed. Rescuers have managed to establish contact with two of them --- Mani Ram and Satish Tomar. Both are being given eatables through a pipe. The whereabouts of the third worker, Hirdya Ram, are not yet known.

An official assured on Saturday that Mani Ram and Tomar would be rescued soon. But the concern of one of the workers, Tomar, was more for his family than for himself.

He requested Bilaspur deputy commissioner Manasi Sahay Thakur to inform his family and his companion’s family about their well-being. Thakur spoke with Tomar through a microphone linked with a webcam.

The deputy commissioner said the operation to rescue them was in progress and that they would soon be rescued. "We are all with you. Don’t worry. Your family is also awaiting your early rescue. I will personally convey your message to them," she told the trapped workers.

She said vertical digging of the tunnel was on to rescue the survivors. "I am told that the digging will take a day or two to reach out to the survivors. But we are hopeful of rescuing them in another 24 hours," she said.

"So far we have managed to drill a vertical hole of more than 32 metres into the tunnel. The pipe inserted earlier to supply food and to establish contact with them was 50 metres. Now we need to make another vertical hole of 50 metres or may be more to evacuate them," she added.

Officials involved in the rescue operation said 1.2 metre diameter pipe would be inserted in the hole to evacuate the stuck workers.

Of the 1.2-km proposed tunnel, 275 meters was excavated till the day of the disaster, an official source said.

"The tunnel caved in at around 80 metres from its opening. This means there is cavity of around 200 metres between the caved in portion and the dead-end of the tunnel. It seems that a major portion of the excavated tunnel is either filled with muck or with water," an official involved in the rescue operation said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) have been deployed for the rescue operation.

 

Courtesy: hindustantimes.com