14 meters away from a miracle: 41 workers trapped for 12 days in the collapsed Indian road tunnel are just hours away from freedom as the drill approaches their position
The 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel in India for 12 days are believed to be hours away from freedom.
Rescue teams carefully tunneled to the men after a landslide in Uttarkashi, northern India, on November 12 collapsed part of a 4.5-kilometre-long tunnel, about 200 meters from the entrance.
Hopes of a breakthrough on Wednesday evening were dashed after work had to be halted when the drill driving through rock and concrete struck metal bars.
However, these have now been cut using gas shears.
Above ground in the mountainous area, teams prepare for the rescue with wheeled stretchers, ready to pull the exhausted men through 57 meters of steel pipe once it passes through the last piece of rubble blocking their escape.
The 41 workers who were trapped for 12 days in a collapsed road tunnel in India are only hours away from freedom.
The area outside the tunnel was a hive of activity, with concerned relatives gathering and rescue teams stopping to pray at a Hindu shrine erected at the entrance.
A crane carries part of the drill as the rescue operation enters its final stages
Helpers pack food for workers trapped under the collapsed Silkyara road tunnel in Uttarkashi
A man prepares a barrel of food for the trapped workers
Ambulances and a field hospital are also on standby to receive the men.
Bhaskar Khulbe, a former adviser to the Indian prime minister and a senior government official who oversaw the rescue efforts, said: “We have to drill 14 meters further into the tunnel.
“If all goes well, we hope to reach them today evening.”
He added that the “detained workers are in good state of mind.”
For the past two weeks, the men have been kept alive by pumping oxygen to their location and sending food such as nuts, chickpeas and popcorn to the group every two hours.
A government statement also noted that each timeline is “subject to change due to technical issues, the challenging terrain in the Himalayas and unforeseen emergencies.”
The area outside the tunnel was a hive of activity, with concerned relatives gathering and rescue teams stopping to pray at a Hindu shrine erected at the entrance.
Rescue workers take a break at the entrance to the road tunnel
The locals worship the deity Boukhnag in the hope that this will bring the workers back safely
Members of the National Disaster Response Force enter the tunnel. The captured men are reportedly safe and are being given oxygen, water, medicine and food through a pipe
The tunnel is part of a government project that connects Hindu pilgrimage sites
Paramedics wait at the tunnel as rescuers work on the final phase of their operation
National Disaster Response Force chief Atul Karwal said his teams had rehearsed how to get the men out as quickly and safely as possible once the steel pipe breaks.
“The boys go in first,” he said Thursday. ‘We put wheels under the stretchers so that when we go in, we can get people onto the stretcher one by one. We are prepared in every way.”
Rescue efforts have been hit by repeated delays caused by falling debris, fears of further collapses and drilling equipment failures.
Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association, who is on the scene to assist the rescue, said engineers were even faced with cutting through construction vehicles buried in the earth when the roof first collapsed.
National Disaster Response Force personnel are preparing for the rescue
Ambulances are on standby, ready to take the trapped workers to the hospital
Members of the State Disaster Response Force personnel enter the tunnel
Teams are working through the night to help free the 41 men
Rescuers pack rice so it can be sent to workers through a metal tube
Police officers stand guard near the site where the tunnel collapsed
Police escort members of the workers’ trapped families, who have been waiting to see their loved ones
A Hindu priest offers prayers at the entrance to the tunnel
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today said work was on a “war footing” and added, “We are trying to overcome all obstacles quickly and bring out all workers safely.”
Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior rescue official and retired general, said the operation was “like a battle.”
“Here the land is your enemy,” he added. ‘The geology of the Himalayas is the enemy… it is very challenging work.’
Experts have warned about the impact of large-scale construction work in Uttarakhand, large parts of which are prone to landslides.