Rat-hole miners begin manual drilling at Uttarakhand tunnel

New Delhi: Manual horizontal drilling has started at the Uttarakhand tunnel where 41 men have been trapped for more than two weeks.

The process started at 7 this evening after the American Augur Drill broke again, its blades fouled up by an iron grill from the tunnel ceiling and other debris, reports NDTV.

The work is being conducted by ‘rat miners’— labourers used to drilling narrow shafts as part of a primitive method of coal extraction. The vertical drilling to create an extra passageway has already progressed to 36 meters, officials said.

Neeraj Khairwal, Secretary, Uttarakhand government, said 24 rat miners will work 24 hours to remove manual debris. The work will be done in three shifts.

The officials, however, refused to give a time frame for the rescue. Manual drilling is a slow and labour-intensive process in which the rat-hole miners will go through the 800 mm pipe, drill manually and bring out the debris by shovels.

With 10 to 12 meters left to reach the trapped workers and machine drilling options exhausted, manual drilling appears to be the only way forward, the authorities indicated.

The American Auger drill -- a corkscrew-like device with a rotary blade at the front end -- which drilled around 46.8 metres, had to be withdrawn as it hit several hurdles.

Not involved in construction of Uttarakhand tunnel: Adani group

Billionaire Gautam Adani's group said it has no direct or indirect involvement in the construction of Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel, where 41 construction workers are trapped since it collapsed more than two weeks back.

In a statement, an Adani group spokesperson said the conglomerate does not own or hold any share in the company involved in the construction of the tunnel. The statement came after a buzz on social media that the company constructing the tunnel had Adani links.

The Silkyara tunnel is being built by Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Company Limited.

Former BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in a post said: "This tunnel was built by which private company? Who were its share holders when the collapse took place? Was one of them Adani Group?'' (PTI)