Uttarkashi tunnel collapse: Rescue work enters final stretch at Silkyara tunnel, hopes high

Uttarkashi/New Delhi: Ambulances were on standby and a special ward at a local health centre kept ready as a multi-agency effort to rescue 41 men trapped in the Silkyara tunnel appeared close to success on Wednesday evening.

In a late evening development, drilling of steel pipes through the rubble hit a hurdle when some iron rods came in the way of the auger machine. Officials, however, expected the rescue mission to be over by early Thursday morning.

Till 6 pm, up to 44 metres of an escape pipe had been inserted into the debris of the collapsed stretch of the tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, an official update said in Delhi.