KABUL. Jan 3 (Interfax-AVN) - The relief works detachment of the Russian Emergencies Ministry operating in the tunnel under the Salang pass in Afghanistan completed clearing the 340m long rubble, unit commander Colonel Nikolai Vdovin said on Thursday.
The rubble inside the tunnel consisted of pieces of the destroyed ventilation system, Vdovin told Interfax-Military News Agency. According to him, restoration of the tunnel that connects northern Afghanistan with the country's southern provinces is processing ahead of schedule.
Members of the Lider high-risk rescue operations center, who are among the team members, used explosives to clear the debris in the tunnel's toughest parts, he said. Sixteen explosions have been made in the southern part of the tunnel.
"There is another blockage in the northern part of the tunnel. It is 650 meters long," Vdovin said. One hundred builders of the Afghan Ministry of Social Affairs and Relief Works are clearing that rubble.
Russian specialists are moving towards their Afghan colleagues from the southern side of the tunnel, Vdovin said.
The first phase of tunnel's restoration is to end on January 20. The first motorcade carrying Russian humanitarian aid will pass through the partially repaired tunnel on its way from Tajikistan to Kabul on that day, Vdovin said.
The second stage which is to take three to four months envisages complete restoration of the tunnel including its ventilation, illumination and drainage systems. Moreover, relief workers are tasked to repair several damaged parts of the road and three ruined bridges on the way from the Dzhabai-Ussardzh village to the southern entrance to the tunnel, Vdovin added.