Rescue workers renewed efforts on Thursday to reach 40 men trapped inside a collapsed highway tunnel in India for the fifth day, making slow progress as they began drilling through rock and soil debris.
Authorities said they were confident an advanced drilling machine flown in from New Delhi will speed up the rescue at the site in the northern state of Uttarakhand.
The plan is to drill and create space for a pipe that can be used by the trapped men to crawl to safety.
Drilling had penetrated about 3 metres (10 ft) of debris by on Thursday morning, officials said, adding that they had to cover a total distance of about 60 metres.
The machine can drill through about 2-2.5 metres of rock per hour, Ranjit Sinha, the state’s top disaster management officer, said.
Two of the trapped construction workers were treated for nausea and headache as they endured a fifth day confined to a small space behind the rubble, officials said.
“There is electricity, water and we are sending food. The new machine which is more powerful and speedy, is deployed,” V.K. Singh, federal deputy minister for road transport and highways, and a retired army chief, told reporters at the site.
