Indian authorities announced that rescue workers began digging through the rubble on Thursday to free 40 workers trapped for five days in a collapsed tunnel in India. The Prime Minister of the northern state of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, confirmed the start of digging operations in the tunnel that collapsed on Sunday.
“Evacuating individuals trapped in the tunnel is the absolute priority,” the Prime Minister said in a statement posted on social media. “We are trying to get the workers out safely as quickly as possible.”
The aim of the operation is to insert a steel cylinder with a diameter of about 90 cm through which the workers, all of whom are alive, can be evacuated.
India sought advice from a Thai company that rescued a group of children from a cave in 2018, as well as soil mechanics experts and geologists from a Norwegian institute.
Rescuers, communicating with workers via radio, piped in medicine, food and oxygen.
A nurse told The Indian Express that some of the trapped workers were suffering from vomiting, headaches, anxiety and stomach problems.
Excavators began removing the rubble on Sunday in an attempt to create a corridor, but new landslides occurred, injuring two workers.
The damaged tunnel is part of a plan to connect the cities of Silkiara and Dangalgaon, which are home to two of the most sacred Hindu temples, Uttarkashi and Yamunotri.
The work is part of a project by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve links between some of the most popular Hindu shrines and modernize access to areas near the border with China.
Experts have warned of the impact of major construction work in Uttarakhand state, as large parts of the region are vulnerable to landslides.
Accidents in large infrastructure projects are common in India.
