‘Like battle’: Indian rescuers strive to free 41 trapped workers

The 41 Indian workers trapped in the collapsed road tunnel were seen alive on camera for the first time on Nov 21.

Engineers have been digging for days to drive a steel pipe through some 57m of earth, concrete and rubble.

PHOTO: AFP

SILKYARA TUNNEL, India - Ambulances were on standby on Nov 23 as Indian rescuers dug through the final metres of debris separating them from

41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks.

Rescue teams have specially fitted stretchers with wheels, ready to pull out the exhausted men through 57m of steel pipe – once it is finally driven through the final section of the tonnes of earth, concrete and rubble blocking their escape.

Emergency vehicles and a field hospital stood ready, AFP journalists at the site said, preparing to receive the men who have been trapped since a portion of the under-construction tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand caved in 12 days ago.

“We have done rehearsals on how to get people safely out,” National Disaster Response Force chief Atul Karwal told reporters on Nov 23.

“The boys will go in first,” he said. “We have put wheels under the stretchers so that when we go in, we can get the people out one by one on the stretcher – we are prepared in every way.”

But rescue efforts have been hit with repeated delays, including more debris falling, fears of further cave-ins and drilling machine breakdowns, as progress on Nov 23 was slowed by further mechanical problems.

‘Himalayan geology is the enemy’

“The 10m to 12m remaining... we don’t know what can come up, but we are ready to handle it,” Mr Karwal said, adding that the trapped men were “keeping up their morale”.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the work was on a “war footing”, with a “team of doctors, ambulances, helicopters and a field hospital” all set up.

Mr Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior National Disaster Management Authority official, refused to say when the men might be freed.

“This is like battle,” the retired general told reporters. “You cannot put a timeline on it. In battle, you don’t know what the enemy is going to do.

“Here, the land is your enemy. Himalayan geology is the enemy... it is very challenging work.

“The rescuers and the workers stuck inside are at equal risk,” Mr Hasnain added.

‘Prayers for safe release’

Inside the Silkyara tunnel entrance, an AFP journalist said the site was a flurry of activity.

Worried relatives have gathered outside the site, where a Hindu shrine has been erected, with a priest holding prayers for the safe rescue of the trapped men.

“The day they will come out of the tunnel, it will be the biggest, happiest day for us,” said 35-year-old Chanchal Singh Bisht, whose 24-year-old cousin Pushkar Singh Ary is trapped inside.

In case the route through the main tunnel entrance does not work, rescuers also started blasting and drilling from the far end of the unfinished tunnel, nearly half a kilometre long.

Preparations have also been made for a risky vertical shaft directly above.

The workers were seen alive for the first time on Nov 21, via the lens of an endoscopic camera sent by rescuers down a thin pipe through which air, food, water and electricity are being delivered.

Though trapped, they have plenty of space, with the area inside 8.5m high and stretching about 2km in length.