In northern India, more than a hundred emergency services fought for the third day in a row on Tuesday to free forty workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel.
“Our biggest breakthrough is that we have established contact (with those buried) and the supply of oxygen and food is working,” official Abhishek Ruhela told the AFP news agency.
Since the accident on Sunday in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, excavators have been used to remove rubble to reach the 40 buried victims. “Whatever is necessary for their survival will be done,” Ruhela assured. The disaster management agency SDRF announced on Tuesday that emergency services had spoken by radio to those who had been buried.
Oxygen is still sufficient
Ranjit Kumar Sinha, a senior disaster management official, told reporters he was confident the workers could be released on Wednesday. The oxygen in the cavity in which they are trapped lasts “about five to six days.”
Bad luck on Sunday morning
The road tunnel collapsed over a length of 200 meters on Sunday morning during shift change. The emergency services on site use heavy equipment to drive a steel pipe through the rubble to the trapped workers. With a diameter of 90 centimeters, the tube is large enough to serve as an escape route.
Tunnel was supposed to connect temples
The 4.5 kilometer long tunnel between Silkyara and Dandalgaon was intended to connect two ancient Hindu temples in the Himalayas. It is part of a road construction project massively backed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aimed mainly at ensuring better connections to some of the country’s most popular Hindu shrines. Accidents at construction sites of major infrastructure projects are not uncommon in India.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
