Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: Heavy drilling machine sent from Gujarat to aid rescue operation

“This machine was used to make a tunnel in a hillock at Zhalori village in Umargam taluka of the Valsad district. The work was finished and the machine was idle at Borigam village. After getting instructions, our teams coordinated with the Valsad police department and loosened some parts of the drilling machine before loading it into a big earth movers vehicle and sending it to Uttarakhand,” said Gaur.

An NHSRCL official said the machine, called Piling RIG (Sany 445-E10), has a length of 20,355 mm and a height of 3,057 mm.

“It is difficult to carry such a huge machine so some portion of the machines had been loosened and sent to Valsad railway station. From there, a special train has been set up to send it to Uttarakhand. While the main body part was too heavy and it could not go in the train as a result of which a huge earth mover vehicle was arranged and was loaded on it for the journey to Uttarakhand,” added the official.

On their part, the Valsad district police have set up a green corridor to ensure the machine is sent to rescue the trapped workers quickly.

Giving more details Valsad in charge of traffic police R P Dodiya said, “After getting the message we have set up the green corridor and our traffic police reached Zhalori village. One transport vehicle carrying machinery equipment was sent to Valsad Railway station and another was sent through a road journey. We immediately deployed our teams and a piloting vehicle was deployed for the green corridor. “

The earth mover vehicle left from the starting point in Valsad at 6 pm and reached the state’s Navsari district at 12.30 pm.

Shushil Agrawal, Superintendent of Police, Navsari, said, “The big earth mover entered the Navsari district police limit at 12.30 am and exited at 1.49 am. We have deployed our teams on the road to overcome any obstacles and the police piloting team was on the road till the machines entered and left Navsari district.”

Hitesh Joyser, Superintendent of Police, Surat, said, “The large drilling machine entered the Surat district police limit at 1.50 am and at 3.30 am it reached the Bharuch police border. An alert message has been sounded for green corridors for the journey of the huge drilling machine. We are hopeful the machine will enter the Rajasthan border today afternoon”.

Meanwhile, officials said on Thursday morning the rescue operation was back on track after some hurdles and that it would take about 14-15 hours to reach the workers, who have been trapped in the tunnel since November 12.