A rescue team comprising of "rat-hole miners" began manual drilling on Monday, 27 November, to save 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi since 12 November.
The rescue workers will try to create a narrow passage to get to the workers. While the workers seem to be just a few metres away, the task could still take considerable time.
Latest update: "All engineers, experts, and others are working with all their strength. As of now, the pipe has gone 52 metres in. With the manner in which the work is ongoing, we hope that there will be a breakthrough very soon. As soon as the pipe goes through, the process of bringing out them (workers) will begin. Everyone is fine," Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Tuesday.
Setback: This comes after the the auger joint of the drilling machine broke inside the rescue pipes on Saturday, thus blocking the passage. A day later, the rescue team had used a plasma machine to cut the auger to expedite the rescue operation.
A portion of the tunnel had collapsed in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi on 12 November, and rescue operations have been underway since.
Lieutenant General (Retd.) Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told news agency ANI that the broken part of the auger machine and debris have been removed.
"We expect manual probing to begin by the evening today. In the vertical drilling, we achieved 15 metres of depth yesterday, today we have crossed around 30 metres. Another vertical probe of around 6-8 inches is being done next to it, which has reached around 76 metres and it will be our alternative lifeline...Rescue work is being done from three places, out of which two including top-down drilling and horizontal drilling are absolutely reliable," Hasnain said.
When will the rescue operations be done: International tunneling advisor Arnold Dix had predicted a possible Christmas deadline for extraction.
He said, "It may take some time, perhaps up to a month, but I cannot specify the exact timeline. Rushing the process is not advisable. The priority is the safe return of these men, and I am confident they will be home for Christmas," reported ANI.
"We're making progress. I'm feeling very proud of the team with the progress we are making, but we still got a 1,000 kms to go. Manual drilling has not yet started. It will be started as soon as it's safe," Dix added.
As the rescue operations continued, PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Silkyara tunnel site on Monday, 27 November. Mishra spoke to the 41 workers, their families and took stock of the food sent to them.
What we know: Earlier, the rescue officials were attempting to drill through the debris to a distance of around 60 metres with the help of a machine with an auger, insert pipes in the space that is made after drilling, and get the workers out through the pipes.
However, now officials will need to manually cut the auger blades and clear the pipes, which could take several days.
"Efforts are ongoing to pull back the rest of the 32 metre auger left inside the pipe. Manual cutting of auger blades has been started inside the pipe to pull out the augers," a bulletin released on Saturday said.