Today, Indian soldiers are preparing to manually dig the tunnel and try to reach 41 workers who have been trapped there for 16 days, after rescue operations suffered numerous setbacks.
When only nine meters of excavation remained that would allow the insertion of the final sections of a 57-metre-long steel pipe, wide enough for a man to pass through and allow the removal of workers, metal bars and construction vehicles that were on the road they damaged the machine.
Today, Indian Army personnel will attempt to clear rocks and debris from these remaining nine meters as temperatures drop in this isolated mountainous region in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
“Personnel from the Indian Army’s engineering battalion as well as other rescue teams are preparing for this operation,” said Abhishek Rohilla, a senior local official.
Since the tunnel collapsed on November 12, rescue efforts have been complicated and slowed by falling debris and frequent malfunctions in machinery necessary to rescue workers.
The workers were able to survive for two weeks thanks to the supply of air, food, water and electricity through a channel into which an endoscopic camera was inserted.
The collapse occurred in the early hours of November 12, when a group of workers was leaving the site and a replacement team arrived.
The landslide led to the collapse of part of the 4.5-kilometre-long tunnel, about 200 meters from the entrance.
The site of the collapse is located in Uttarakhand, a mountainous state with many Hindu temples that attract many pilgrims and tourists, and highways and buildings are constantly being built to respond to the increasing influx of visitors.
The tunnel is part of the busy Chardham Road, a major federal project linking several Hindu pilgrimage sites.
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