Uttarakhand tunnel rescue LIVE Updates: Uttarakhand CM Dhami announces completion of pipe-laying; worker evacuation set to commence soon.

Ambulance and emergency vehicles are seen on standby near the entrance of the under construction Silkyara tunnel during a rescue operation for trapped workers after a section of the tunnel collapsed, in the Uttarkashi district of India’s Uttarakhand state on November 28.(AFP)

Uttarakhand tunnel rescue LIVE Updates: Rat-hole mining specialists engaged in rescuing 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi initiated manual drilling through the debris on Monday. In the latest updates, the manual horizontal drilling has been achieved and the workers would be out anytime soon.

Around 1:30 pm on Tuesday, Bansi Dhar Tiwari, the state government’s information department, announced the completion of drilling. Shortly after, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami confirmed on social media that the escape pipe had been laid into the drilled passage, expressing optimism about bringing out all workers soon.

At least 12 rat-hole mining experts were tasked with horizontally drilling through the final 10- to 12-meter stretch of debris in the collapsed section of the under-construction tunnel on the Char Dham route in Uttarakhand. The alternative drilling approach was adopted after a large auger machine became stuck on Friday. Approximately 40 per cent of the necessary 86-meter vertical drilling has been completed.