Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: "I hope we will be able to rescue the workers soon" says NDRF DG Atul Karwal

Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) [India], November 23 : National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General Atul Karwal reached the Silkyara Tunnel collapse site on Thursday. The NDRF DG was confident of pushing through the rescue effort at the earliest.
"Our teams are ready, and I hope we will be able to rescue the workers soon" DG Atul Karwal said.

"NDRF is ready for all the consequences that we may have to face. Special equipment is also ready so that we can take the trapped workers out as early as possible. Our teams are ready, and I hope we will be able to rescue the workers soon," NDRF DG Atul Karwal told ANI.

Meanwhile, DIG Uttarakhand Police KS Nagnyal, while speaking to ANI said that there were 30 ambulances on site to take the injured workers to the nearby hospital.
Further, he added, "All arrangements have been made. If needed, the injured can also be lifted by helicopter."
Earlier, former advisor to the Prime Minister's Office, Bhaskar Khulbe said that one of the main hindrances, the presence of steel rods along the path of the rescue pipes have now been removed.
"I am happy to tell you the entire steel that was obstructing the free movement of the pipe inside has now been removed. We are trying to move 6 metres ahead of the 45-metre mark that we have already reached. During drilling last night, an iron metal had come in, due to which the work was stopped. We hope that there will be no more obstructions in our way ahead" Bhaskar Kulbe said.
Preparations to evacuate the 41 workers trapped in the Silkayara tunnel in Uttarkashi since November 12 are in the final stage, the Uttrakhand Chief Minister's Office said in a press release earlier.
Meanwhile, medical equipment reached the site as efforts to rescue 41 workers trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi continued on the 12th day on Thursday.
According to officials, the workers are expected to be pulled out from the collapsed tunnel today.
The workers have been trapped since November 12, when the under-construction tunnel from Silkyara to Barkot got blocked due to debris falling in a 60-meter stretch on the Silkyara side.
The operation to rescue 41 workers trapped inside a Uttarakhand tunnel for the past 12 days is in its critical phase.
As of midnight, rescue teams had said that about 10 metres of debris separated them from the trapped workers.
According to rescue teams, the operation involved drilling through the debris to push wide pipes for the trapped workers to walk out through. The auger machine, which drills through about 3 metres of debris in an hour, had earlier hit a metal obstruction.
A 41-bed hospital readied at the Community Health Centre in Chinyalisaur for medical examination and care of trapped workers after they are evacuated from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi.
Rescue workers said the workers would go through a detailed medical examination once they reached the hospital.