First images from Indian tunnel show workers trapped for 9 days
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
The men have been stuck in the 4.5km tunnel in Uttarakhand state since it caved in early on Nov 12.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
SILKYARA, India - The first images of 41 men trapped for more than a week in a highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas emerged on Nov 21.
The images show them standing in the confined space and communicating with rescue workers.
The men have been stuck in the 4.5km tunnel
The group is safe, the authorities said, and the men have access to light, oxygen, food, water and medicine.
The authorities have not said what caused the cave-in, but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.
Efforts to rescue the 41 men have been slowed by snags in drilling through the debris in the mountainous terrain.
A 30-second video provided by the authorities shows about a dozen of the trapped men standing in a semicircle in front of the camera, wearing helmets and construction worker jackets over their clothes, against the backdrop of lights in the tunnel.
A rescue worker outside can be heard telling the men to present themselves before the camera one by one, to confirm their identities on the walkie-talkie gear that had been sent in.
The video was shot through a medical endoscopy camera, typically used to inspect interior organs, joints and cavities in the human body, that was pushed through a pipeline of 15cm in diameter, drilled through the debris on Nov 20, the authorities said.
In the clip, the trapped men appear to be doing fine, answering that they are all right, in response to queries about their well-being, said one official in the rescue control room who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Rescuers planned on Nov 21 to resume drilling horizontally through a 60m pile of debris to push through a pipe large enough for the trapped men to crawl out. Drilling was suspended on Nov 17 after a machine snag and fears of a fresh collapse.
The authorities are simultaneously working on five other plans to rescue the workers
Dr Abhishek Sharma, a psychiatrist sent to the site by the state government, said he had asked the 41 men to walk within the 2km area where they are confined, do light yoga exercises and talk regularly among themselves to keep occupied.
“Sleep is very important for them... and, as of now, they have been sleeping well and not reported any difficulties in sleeping,” Dr Sharma told Reuters, adding that the men were in good spirits and keen to emerge soon.
This picture released by Department of Information and Public Relations Uttarakhand and taken with an endoscopic camera shows a group of workers trapped inside the under-construction tunnel, on Nov 21, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
Another doctor at the site, Dr Prem Pokhriyal, said the men had been asked to avoid heavy workouts that could boost accumulation of carbon dioxide gas in the confined space as they breathe out.
The trapped men are low-wage workers, most of them from poor states in India’s north and east.
“He said he is doing fine,” Ms Sunita Hembrom, the sister-in-law of one of the trapped workers, Mr Surendra Kisko, told reporters after she spoke to him.
“He said, ‘Take care of yourselves, the children and parents. Just tell us what they are doing to get us out of here.’” REUTERS
