The 41 construction workers trapped in a tunnel that collapsed in northern India more than a week ago were given hot meals this Tuesday as rescue teams continue to work on an alternative plan to free them.
Meals – rice and lentils – were delivered Monday evening via a 6-inch steel pipe laid through the rubble. said Deepa Gaur, spokesperson for the government.
For the past nine days, workers have survived on dry food sent through a narrower tube. Oxygen is supplied through another tube.
Authorities released a video on Tuesday after they managed to get a camera to the workers.
A camera has captured the first video of the 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The workers have been trapped since November 12 after a landslide caused part of the tunnel to collapse. pic.twitter.com/G6jrwDx2d1
– BBC News India (@BBCIndia) November 21, 2023
The footage showed workers wearing hard hats moving through the blocked tunnel while communicating with rescue teams via walkie-talkies.
Families are becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated as the rescue operation continues.
The tunnel collapsed in Uttarakhand state, a mountainous area that proved a challenge for the boring machine, which broke down when rescuers tried to dig horizontally toward the trapped workers.
The high intensity of the machine’s vibrations also caused more debris to fall, prompting authorities to suspend rescue efforts.
Teams are currently building an access road to the top of the mountain, from where they will excavate vertically.
Drilling the tunnel will take a few days and debris may fall during the work, authorities said Monday.
103 meters of digging will be required to reach the trapped workers, almost twice the distance of previous attempts at horizontal drilling.
However, authorities said they would continue digging horizontally, from the mouth of the tunnel, towards the workers.
The workers have been trapped since November 12, when a landslide caused part of the 4.5 kilometer tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 meters from the entrance.
The Uttarakhand region is full of Hindu temples and roads and buildings have been constantly constructed to accommodate the flow of pilgrims and tourists.
The tunnel is part of the Road to Chardham, an emblematic project that includes a group of four Hindu pilgrimage sites.
Source: DN
