The drama surrounding construction workers in India, who were trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks, continues. After another setback in their attempt to make their way horizontally to the 41 trapped people, rescue teams were again hard at work finding other solutions today.
Yesterday, rescue teams faced obstacles again while digging through the ruins of the collapsed tunnel: just nine meters before reaching the trapped men, the massive private excavation operation came across thick metal girders and buried construction vehicles.
According to Australian tunneling expert Arnold Dix, who is supporting the work, the broken pits can no longer be repaired: they will now be restored. However, rescuers are still hopeful that they can rescue the construction workers by using a narrow steel tube as a rescue tunnel.
At the same time, other teams brought a heavy excavator to the wooded hill above the tunnel to dig a 90-metre-deep well to reach the trapped people. However, the work above the heads of the 41 construction workers is complex and dangerous. Digging of a new rescue shaft has also begun at the other end of the tunnel. However, this route, estimated at 480 metres, will be much longer than the other two options.
The Chief Minister of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said today that the authorities and international experts are working on all options. In any case, “we will soon be able to bring our brothers back safely,” he said.
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