Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: Landline facility set up for trapped workers

Officials announced on Saturday that a landline facility has been established at the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi to maintain communication between trapped workers and their families."We have set up a telephone exchange. We will give them a phone connected with the line via the pipe being used for sending food. This phone will have incoming and outgoing facilities. They can talk to their family," DGM, BSNL, Rakesh Chaudhary told PTI.The exchange has been set up 200 metres away from the Silkyara tunnel, Chaudhary said.With rescue work temporarily halted on Friday due to obstacles, impatience is growing among the 41 trapped men and their relatives.Currently, communication is facilitated through a six-inch wide pipe, with an endoscopic camera providing a visual of the conditions inside.Drilling at the collapsed tunnel section has been halted since Friday as the auger machine encountered multiple hurdles, eventually breaking, according to a tunnelling expert on site.As an alternative, rescuers are considering manual drilling for the remaining 10 to 12 meters or creating a vertical escape passage for the trapped workers.The multi-agency rescue operation began on November 12 after a landslide caused a portion of the under-construction tunnel on Uttarakhand's Char Dham route to collapse, trapping the workers inside.With inputs from PTI