(Dehradun) Indian rescue workers plan to dig a new well to free 41 workers trapped for a week in a collapsed tunnel, after suspending drilling work for fear of further falling debris.
Bhaskar Khulbe, a senior government official involved in the relief operations, said plans were now being made to dig a well from above. “We are exploring all options to save the workers,” he said Saturday evening.
Rescue workers are working to clear debris from a road tunnel under construction in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand after part of the tunnel that workers were supporting collapsed a week ago. currently building.
But work to drill tons of earth and rock inside the tunnel to reach workers was suspended on Saturday after a loud crack occurred the day before, raising fears that the ceiling could collapse.
PHOTO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Rescuers stand at the entrance to the collapsed tunnel on November 18.
The objective was to introduce a steel pipe of approximately 90 centimeters in diameter through which the workers, all of whom are still alive, would have been evacuated.
A period of “four to five days maximum” is planned by the emergency services to release the workers, added Mr. Khulbe, without providing further details.
“All possible efforts are being made,” Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Sunday after visiting the site.
He said if the drilling machine was repaired, it would be possible to reach workers by Tuesday, adding that crews were also considering several alternative routes.
The Press Trust of India news agency for its part indicated that “preparations to drill a vertical hole from the top of the hill” had begun.
Indian media also broadcast a photo of an excavator clearing earth on the top of the hill above the tunnel.
Rescuers communicate with the trapped men using radios. Food, water, oxygen and medicine were also sent to workers via a 15-centimeter-wide pipe.
But relatives said the workers stuck in a 400m-long space since November 12 are desperate, Indian media reported.
“They are in tears […] They started asking us if we were lying to them about efforts to save them,” one of them told reporters on Saturday, without giving his name.