“GEOLOGY IS THE ENEMY”
The area outside the tunnel has been a flurry of activity, with worried relatives gathering and rescue teams stopping to pray at a Hindu shrine erected at the entrance.
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 tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand caved in 13 days ago.
National Disaster Response Force chief Atul Karwal said his teams have been rehearsing how – once the steel pipe breaks through – they will bring the men out as quickly and safely as possible.
“The boys will go in first,” he said Thursday. “We have put wheels under the stretchers so that when we go in, we can get the people out one by one on the stretcher – we are prepared in every way.”
Rescue efforts have been hit with repeated delays caused by falling debris, fears of further cave-ins and drilling machine breakdowns.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said Thursday the work was on a “war footing”, with a “team of doctors, ambulances, helicopters and a field hospital” set up.
Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior rescue official and retired general, said their efforts were “like battle”.
“Here, the land is your enemy,” he said on Thursday. “Himalayan geology is the enemy … it is very challenging work.”
Experts have warned of the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, large parts of which are prone to landslides.
Source: CNA
