After nine days of intense rescue work, NDRF officials finally managed to rescue two workers trapped inside an under -construction tunnel in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. Mani Ram and Satish Tomar have been rescued. However, there is still no word on Hriday Ram, whose condition is yet to be ascertained.
Mani Ram and Tomar are both in good health and have now been taken to a temporary medical camp. On being rescued, they both thanked the NDRF officials at the site.
This was the second attempt by NDRF workers Monday, after the first, earlier this morning, failed. There is, however, still no information about the third worker who was caught in the collapse.
A two-foot tall concrete slab, which has now been partly destroyed using a boring machine, prevented rescuers from reaching out to the two trapped workers. The workers will now be lifted through the 40-metre tunnel using belts and ropes.
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The three workers, Satish Tomar, Mani Ram and Hriday Ram, were trapped after part of a Rs 82-crore under-construction traffic tunnel on the Kiratpur-Nerchowk-Manali National Highway collapsed at Ghumarwin in Bilaspur over a week ago, on the night of September 12. While Satish and Mani have responded to the line of emergency communication, no contact has yet been established with the third worker.
The operation appeared to have reached its final phase on Sunday, with the district administration saying the drilling was complete, and the “countdown” to reaching the workers had begun.
Rains also impeded the rescue operation Sunday. The bore dug at the mouth of the tunnel was filled with rainwater and a high-power pumping set had to be installed to dry it up.
A link road, built on the drilling site, also became slushy, making movement of rescue workers, vehicles as well as the machinery difficult. “There is some persistent technical problem with the machine. Experts are trying their best to sort it out. The operation has been stopped and can only be resumed when the machine is fixed. We are right at the site and will not leave the place until the workers are brought out,” Deputy Commissioner Mansi Sahay Thakue had told reporters.
She, along with SP Balbir Thakur, also met the family members of the trapped workers and briefed them about the progress of the rescue operation. Late Sunday night, the company pressed a small machine into action but it wasn’t effective enough. Border Road Organisation Director (Tunnel) R S Rao, who is camping at the site to advise the district administration on the rescue operation, said, “The trapped workers are going to be out anytime now. We are very close to the end of the operation.”
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/bilaspur-tunnel-collapse-ndrf-rescuers-reach-trapped-workers-to-be-lifted-out-soon/
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