2023-11-27 20:31:38
Published27. November 2023, 9:31 p.m
India: 41 trapped workers are to be freed using a hand drill
Rescue teams are digging in with hand tools and have already managed one meter, but still have to overcome eleven meters.
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The Indian construction workers, who have been trapped in a collapsed tunnel for over two weeks, are now being rescued manually.
REUTERS
The rescue teams plan to use pipes and evacuate the 41 workers on mobile stretchers.
REUTERS
The workers have been trapped since November 12th. A landslide in northern India caused part of the 4.5 kilometer long tunnel to collapse about 200 meters from the entrance.
REUTERS
That’s what it’s about
The trapped Indian workers are to be freed using hand-held drilling tools.
This requires digging through up to twelve meters of rubble.
A vertical drilling failed.
The Indian construction workers who have been stuck in a collapsed tunnel for more than two weeks are now to be freed by hand. A dozen rescuers are taking turns working through the rubble with hand-held drilling tools, the Uttarakhand state government said on Monday. It was said that they had dug almost a meter deep and had up to eleven meters to go.
Rescue workers also began digging a vertical shaft using a new drilling rig. They had been drilling horizontally for a week, but the debris in the collapsed tunnel was too massive for the machine. It had repeated misfires and was finally damaged beyond repair on Friday.
Passage for 41 trapped workers
The work aims to create a passage for the evacuation of the 41 trapped workers. Rescue teams have inserted pipes into areas that have already been excavated and plan to get the men out on wheeled stretchers. The rescue workers spent last night pulling parts of the defective drilling rig out of the pipes so that manual excavation work could begin, said Devendra Patwal from the civil protection agency.
The workers have been trapped since November 12th. A landslide in northern India had caused part of the 4.5 kilometer long tunnel in which they were working to collapse about 200 meters from the entrance.
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(DPA/bre)
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