By lyndamyer
Following that on November 12, the 41 men trapped due to a part collapse in the under-construction Silkyara Bend-Barkot Tunnel in Uttarakhand in the Himalayan region, currently rescuers have reached them after 18 days and are preparing to pull them out.
In order to reaching the men, rescuers have broken through rocks and debris and will now remove them one at a time on wheeled stretchers through a 90cm pipe, as both Reuters and the BBC report.
Retired Lt-Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, who is a member of the National Disaster Management Authority, told the BBC he thought the operation would go on for the entire night.
Due to the area’s complex geology, the rescue operation that had been commenced since the part collapse happened it has been hampered. While two lifeline pipes have maintained supplies of oxygen, water, food and communications but attempts to construct escape routes have been stymied by the geology and steel and machinery caught in the collapse debris.
Additionally, through rat miners the rocks and gravel were drilled by hand from inside a 90cm-wide evacuation pipe pushed through the debri.
Reuters is streaming live from the site, where ambulances can be seen waiting at the tunnel entrance.
