India tunnel rescue efforts paused

DEHRADUN, India (AFP) – Indian rescuers said Saturday they had paused efforts to reach 40 men trapped in a collapsed road tunnel after a cracking sound created a “panic situation” over the possibility of a further cave-in.

Excavators have been removing debris from the under-construction road tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand since Sunday after a portion of the tunnel the workers were building collapsed.

The week-long rescue efforts have been slowed by the continued falling of debris as well as repeated breakdowns of the crucial heavy drilling machines.

The government’s highways and infrastructure company, NHIDCL, said a sudden cracking sound late Friday had “created a panic situation in the tunnel,” sparking fears the roof could cave in.

Operations were then halted amid the possibility of “further collapse,” NHIDCL said in a statement.

Rescuers have been communicating with the trapped men using radios.

Food, water, oxygen, and medicine have also been sent to the trapped workers via a six-inch-wide (15-centimeter) pipe, but those trapped inside are desperate, Indian media reported.

“We keep sending word in, inquiring about their health,” Mohammed Rizwan, part of the rescue team, told the Times of India.

“But all of them have just one question: ‘When will you bring us out?’”

On Saturday morning, the key work of drilling through the tons of earth and rock to reach the men was still on hold, senior local civil servant Abhishek Ruhela told AFP Saturday. “Except drilling, other necessary work is going on,” Ruhela said.

Rescuers said Friday that they had drilled less than halfway to where the men are trapped.

After the first drill broke down, a replacement earth-boring machine was flown in on Wednesday on an air force C-130 Hercules military plane – but that then hit a boulder.

“The machine was not able to push further as the machine was getting lifted and the bearings of the machine were damaged,” NHIDCL added.