A six-inch-wide pipeline was inserted through the rubble on Monday.
Oh, the cost of wider roads and tunnels in the Himalaya: 41 workers trapped in Uttarkashi's Silkyara tunnel entered the 10th day today. A camera reached them this morning. Hope they're rescued soon & the govt learns lessons & stops digging holes into our mountains, mindlessly. pic.twitter.com/1f7lIZtcDn
— Kavita Upadhyay (@Upadhyay_Cavita) November 21, 2023
It was considered a breakthrough moment as workers could now be sent larger quantities of food through the pipe.
The labourers have been trapped in a 400-metre buffer zone of the unfinished main tunnel since November 12 when a portion of the 4.5-km tunnel on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri National Highway collapsed, trapping 41 workers.
The tunnel -- meant to join Silkyara and Dandalgaon in Uttarkashi -- is part of the Char Dham project.
Over the last week, several plans to cut through the 40-meter rock wall fell through.
The last rock fall took place on Friday when attempts were made to use an American Auger drill flown in from Delhi. The drill machine that was being used before that had broken down and work had to be stopped till the new one reached.