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You were only ten meters from the 41 trapped construction workers.
Hope was near.
Then the drill got stuck – again.
For 13 days, the 200-man team has been fighting to get out the 41 workers who are trapped in a collapsed road tunnel in northern India.
It has been anything but simple. Drills have broken and a new drilling machine has had to be flown in.
On Thursday, it was hoped to be able to finish the rescue operation.
The massive drilling machine had worked its way 60 meters into the rubble. There were only nine or ten meters left to the place where the men are trapped.
Expectations high, both inside and outside the tunnel.
But trouble was encountered again, when the machine suddenly reached an iron obstacle it could not drill through.
On Friday, another attempt was made – but the same thing happened again, and the machine had to be stopped.
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Rescue operation inside the tunnel where several workers were trapped by a landslide in Uttarakhand, India.
1 / 2Photo: AP.
The plan: Drag them out on stretchers through pipes
During the almost two weeks, the rescue team considered different methods.
– We decided to try drilling from all sides – from the other side of the tunnel, from the sides, and vertically from the roof down to the workers, says tunnel expert Arnold Dix, who was flown in from Australia, to The Guardian.
This week, however, they decided to return to the original plan, and drill horizontally.
Once you have arrived, the idea is to weld together a pipe where you will pull the workers out on wheeled stretchers.
– We hope they are strong enough to handle being pulled up through a narrow pipe, says Abhishek Ruhela, district manager in the state of Uttarakhand.
Got 200 flatbread and curry
Outside the tunnel, ambulances and doctors stand ready to receive the exhausted men, who were trapped when the tunnel collapsed in a landslide on November 12.
According to the Indian authorities, the workers are doing well under the circumstances. They have had access to food, water, oxygen and medicines.
From the beginning, you could only bring in roasted chickpeas, popcorn and nuts. This week they succeeded in installing a larger pipe and provided the men with cooked food.
According to a government statement, 200 roti (a type of Indian flatbread) lentils and vegetable curry have been sent in.
Encouraged to do yoga
The men are also in constant contact with healthcare personnel. They have been told to do simple yoga exercises and walk in the 2 kilometer space they are in.
A psychiatrist speaks up Reuters that they also considered sending in decks of cards and chess games to keep the workers busy. But it is unclear whether it has been done.
The 41 construction workers come from some of India’s poorest states.