Rescue Efforts Continue to Reach Trapped Workers in Collapsed Tunnel in India
Efforts to reach 40 men trapped inside a collapsed highway tunnel in Uttarkashi, India have been renewed for the fifth day as rescue workers make slow progress drilling through rock and soil debris.
Authorities have expressed confidence that an advanced drilling machine flown in from New Delhi will speed up the rescue in the northern state of Uttarakhand. The plan is to drill and create space for a pipe that can be used by the trapped men to crawl to safety.
As of Thursday morning, drilling had penetrated about 3 meters (10 ft) of debris, with a total distance of about 60 meters to cover. The machine in use can drill through about 2-2.5 meters of rock per hour, according to Ranjit Sinha, the state’s top disaster management officer.
Two of the trapped construction workers have been treated for nausea and headaches, while efforts to send food and supplies continue. V.K. Singh, federal deputy minister for road transport and highways, assured reporters that the priority is to save all the trapped workers.
The collapsed 4.5 km (3 mile) tunnel is part of the Char Dham highway, one of the most ambitious projects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The $1.5 billion project aims to connect four Hindu pilgrimage sites through 890 km (550 miles) of roads.
Since the tunnel collapse, the trapped men have been supplied with food, water, and oxygen via a pipe and are in contact with rescuers via walkie-talkies.
Authorities have not determined the cause of the collapse, but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes, and floods. The federal government has insisted that environmentally friendly techniques were employed in the design to make geologically unstable stretches safer.
The rescue effort is also consulting experts in Austria, Norway, and Thailand for advice on the operation.
(Reporting by Saurabh Sharma; Writing by YP Rajesh and Tanvi Mehta)