Rescue workers are racing against time to shovel soil to reach a truck carrying one of the three workers buried in a landslide inside a high-speed rail tunnel in Pak Chong District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province.
Not only was it a race against time, but it was also a race against the weather, where light rain fell at 3:30 p.m. Many news reports were quite confusing. The latest was the denial of any news of the truck’s arrival, and the knocking and signaling between rescue workers and the victims.
Mr. Kritsak San Wasasiri, Director of Special Operations Division, Search and Rescue Department, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation or USAR Thailand, is the person who came out to deny this news, confirming that at the moment, the truck has not been found, but he said that it is getting closer all the time. Originally, it was expected that it was 1.20 meters away from the protection tunnel line, but when drilling in, it was not found. A new scan found that it was deeper in a sloping pattern of 1 meter 8
0 centimeters, but it had dug 1.80 meters. Finally, it reached the point where the truck was parked. This excavation line cannot be entered by a small backhoe, so it is necessary to use manpower to dig instead.
Still images inside the tunnel show the first steel beam tunnel, 3 meters high, 3 meters wide, and 6 meters long. The horizontal steel beams are attached to the walls on both sides of the tunnel and a box is made in the middle of the steel beams. The collapsed soil will slide into the small tunnel. A backhoe and people will dig the soil out. In the first tunnel, sandbags were used to block the piles of soil on both sides to prevent them from sliding down. Sand was then brought from outside to reinforce the piles of soil on the sides to make the piles of soil that collapsed on the small tunnel have equal weight to make the tunnel base stronger. The second tunnel is the same size as the first tunnel, but the square hole in the middle will be injected with cement to make a square box wall to prevent rock
s from the tunnel walls from falling on the workers during the operation.
Today, both Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Mr. Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Minister of Transport, came to closely monitor and assess the situation in order to jointly decide on a method to urgently rescue the victims. Assistant Professor Thanet Veerasiri, President of the Council of Engineers, presented information on the assessment of the area for building a barrier, which many parts have already met safety standards and can proceed with breaking down the barriers to urgently rescue the victims.
The news of the truck reaching the tunnel at 3 pm was the same time that two ambulances were entering the tunnel, but when assessed, it would take a long time. After an hour, the ambulances returned to standby outside as usual.
Dr. Suphon Tatiyananthaporn, the provincial public health doctor of Nakhon Ratchasima, provided information that the rescue vehicle that went in had a specialist emergency
doctor with modern life-saving equipment to initially assess the symptoms to determine whether it was suitable for air or ground transport, which had different advantages and disadvantages. Namely, land transport was more life-saving but took longer to travel. The symptoms of people who were stuck in the cabin for a long time may have bad air or carbon dioxide retention. If there was no drinking water, severe dehydration could occur. Water is related to the acidity of the blood. If it is abnormal, it will affect various vital signs. They will be transported to Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital via Khlong Phai School. In the event of an emergency, a medical team will be prepared on standby to stop by to fill the patient’s potential.
Source: Thai News Agency