印トンネル崩落、上部からの縦穴掘削開始

【シルキャラ（インド）ＡＦＰ＝時事】インド北部ウッタラカンド州で１２日に起きた建設中のトンネルの崩落事故で、救助隊は２５日、トンネル内に閉じ込められている作業員４１人を救出するため、縦穴の掘削作業を開始した。（写真は、崩壊したトンネル上部から縦穴を掘削するために現場に運び込まれる機械。インド・ウッタラカンド州ウッタルカシで）
　ウッタラカンド州のプシュカル・シン・ダミ首相は同日、深さ約９０メートルの縦穴の掘削作業が始まったことを確認した。崩落現場上部からのアクセスについては、作業にリスクが伴う。
　救助隊は当初、約６０メートル分の厚さの土砂と岩に、人が通れる太さの鋼管を水平に打ち込もうとしていた。だが当局によると作業員のいる場所まで９メートル地点で掘削機が硬い障害物にぶつかり、このルートの掘削は１７日に中止された。
　一部が崩落したトンネルのすぐ近くでは野外病院が設置され、救急車両も待機している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/27-16:38）

Indian rescuers began digging a vertical shaft Saturday to free 41 workers trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel for two weeks, after efforts through another route hit snags just metres from freeing the men.
In the latest setback in attempts to rescue the increasingly desperate workers, engineers driving a metal pipe horizontally through 57 metres (187 feet) of rock and concrete ran into metal rods and construction vehicles buried in the earth.
A giant earth-boring machine snapped just nine metres from breaking through.
Thick metal girders in the rubble are blocking the route, and using cutting tools to clear them is tricky from inside the confined pipe, only wide enough for a man to crawl through.
Ambulances are on standby and a field hospital has been prepared to receive the men, who have been trapped since a portion of the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in the northern state of Uttarakhand caved in on November 12.
- 'Proceed manually' -
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami confirmed that vertical drilling had begun to dig 89 metres downwards, a risky route above the men in an area that has already suffered a collapse.
AFP reporters saw a heavy earth digger being taken up a specially cut track to the top of forested hill above the tunnel, to begin the dig.
At the same time, a special superheated plasma cutter was being brought to the remote mountain location to remove the broken drill and metal blocking the horizontal route. Digging will then continue by hand.
We will proceed manually, Dhami told reporters, adding he had spoken to the trapped men.
They are in good spirits. They said: 'Take as many days as you require, don't worry about us.'
The workers were seen alive for the first time on Tuesday, peering into the lens of an endoscopic camera sent by rescuers down a thin pipe through which air, food, water and electricity are being delivered.
Though trapped, they have plenty of space in the tunnel, with the area inside 8.5 metres high and stretching about two kilometres in length.
- ' Getting even more complex' -
Rescue teams have stretchers fitted with wheels ready to pull the exhausted men through 57 metres of pipe, if it can be driven through the final section of rubble blocking their escape.
Efforts have been painfully slow, complicated by falling debris as well as repeated breakdowns of crucial heavy drilling machines, with the air force having to twice airlift new kit.
Since Wednesday, officials have said repeatedly they were optimistic of a breakthrough within hours, but a government statement warned the rescue was subject to change due to technical glitches, the challenging Himalayan terrain, and unforeseen emergencies.
Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, who is advising the rescue on site, said he remained optimistic as there were many ways to reach the men.
I am confident that the 41 men are coming home, he said.
Work has also begun from the far side of the road tunnel, a much longer third route estimated to be around 480 metres.
Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior rescue official and retired general, said their efforts were exactly like war.
We have to have some patience, we need to understand that a very difficult operation is going on, he told reporters.
I feel everyone has their attention on this as to when this operation will be over, but you need to see that this operation is getting even more complex, he added.
We have never given you the timeline. I have experienced that when you do something with mountains, you cannot predict anything. This situation is exactly like war.
The Silkyara tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's infrastructure project aimed at cutting travel times between some of the most popular Hindu temples in the country.
The 4.5-kilometre (2.7-mile) passage is meant to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri, two of the holiest sites.