Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue Operation – Now the quest to bring 41 trapped workers out of the collapsed Uttarakhand tunnel continues. The final stage of the operation halted overnight on Thursday as the drilling machine stopped. Experts involved in the mission say they are just a few meters away from reaching the trapped workers. Officials say that the 48m point has been breached by the drill, but the drilling had to be halted after cracks appeared in the platform on which the drilling machine rests. The platform of the augur machine, which is being used to drill, has now been stabilized and the operations are again set to resume shortly.
The density of the remaining debris will be studied through India’s Defense Research and Development Organization’s (DRDO) robotic equipment. If there are no more hurdles, the workers are expected to be out by afternoon today. However, officials have said that no specific timeline should be assumed.
During the rescue process, workers will be pulled out one by one through a big pipe drilled to reach them. After the operation is over, a medical examination of all the workers will be done. Anyone with serious injuries will be airlifted and flown to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Workers have been trapped in the under-construction collapsed Uttarkashi tunnel for the last 13 days. A very complex effort to bring them out has since taken place. Food, water, and oxygen are being supplied to the workers through pipes.
The tunnel in India’s northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand is part of the ambitious Char Dham project. It is a national infrastructure initiative to enhance connectivity to pilgrimage sites.
While speaking exclusively to Weon on the rescue operation, tunneling expert and veteran rescuer Arnold Dicks sent a heartfelt message to the nation and the rest of the world. A message of faith in the human condition, unity, teamwork, and humility in the face of nature.
Similar Situations and Expectations
When asked about similar situations and how they have panned out, Arnold Dicks shared his past experiences and explained what can be expected in this critical situation.
“Normally, when I think about all the disasters that I’ve worked on throughout my career, normally, you don’t have anyone alive. Normally, what I’m doing is discussing how to retrieve bodies. Normally, my mission is to bring loved ones home to their families.”
Arnold Dicks paused for a moment and continued, “But this is different. For the first time ever in my career, nature has spared everybody. The mountain had a choice and it chose not to kill all these people. It made it difficult, but it led us in the end. The mountain’s keeping them warm because it’s warm inside the mountain.”
He expressed admiration for the collective efforts in the rescue operation, saying, “The fact that everyone’s sole mission here has got nothing to do with their egos. The fact that every agency of your country is here selflessly working. The fact that the military guys are working with the civil guys, that the federal government is working with the state guys, that my organization has representatives from every nation on earth.”
Arnold Dicks concluded with optimism, “Whenever these young hardworking men come home, whenever it is, this will be a disaster rescue like no other. It will be a celebration of good, a celebration of how we as a world have shown each other all the good people, the engineers, not the ones who cause trouble, not the ones that make us hate one another. This will be a celebration of how we can do really good things together. It’s like an epic, a story from ancient times unfolding right now live in the Himalayas about the goodness of human beings and what we can do together.”
He expressed his desire to focus on the current rescue rather than reminiscing about past disasters, stating, “I don’t really want to think about the ones I’ve done in the past because they are all terrible. This is just a lovely disaster. Tricky, technically difficult, I don’t know when it’s going to end, but I got a wonderful feeling it’s going to end well.”