8 days after tunnel collapse, India still hasn't rescued 41 workers

Excavators have been removing rocks and concrete from a road tunnel under construction in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand since November 12, after a section collapsed. But rescue efforts have been hampered by falling rocks and repeated breakdowns of heavy drilling machines, forcing the air force to airlift new equipment to the site twice.

According to AFP, engineers tried to pass a hollow steel tube horizontally through the collapsed area. The steel tube was just wide enough for the trapped people to crawl through and out, through a passage at least 57 meters long that was blocked by dirt and rocks.

But drilling in that direction had to be halted on November 17, after a loud crack created a “panic situation,” according to officials.

8 ngày sau vụ sập hầm, Ấn Độ vẫn chưa cứu được 41 công nhân - Ảnh 1. — Rescue forces at the scene on November 19.

Crews are preparing to dig a new tunnel to bring the steel pipe down from above, forcing workers to build an entirely new route up to the top of the hill above to accommodate the heavy equipment needed. Officials estimate the tunnel will need to be as deep as 280 feet to reach the trapped people.

"Every effort is being made," Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a statement on November 20, adding that "the workers trapped in the tunnel are safe." He said he had spoken to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the incident.

Rescuers communicated with the trapped workers by radio, while food, water, oxygen and medicine were also delivered to them through a narrow pipe.

Anshu Manish Khalkho, director of the government's highways and infrastructure company NHIDCL, said on November 20 that they had successfully installed a pipeline with a diameter of more than 15 cm, allowing more food to be transported.

Foreign experts were mobilized, including independent disaster investigator Arnold Dix, President of the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association.

"We will find a solution and get them out... It is important that not only the people who need to be rescued but also the people who are doing the rescue are safe," Mr Dix said.

The collapsed tunnel was part of Prime Minister Modi's infrastructure project to reduce travel times between some of the country's most famous Hindu sites, as well as improve access to strategic areas bordering China.

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