SILKYARA TUNNEL, India: Indian military engineers on Monday were preparing to dig by hand to reach 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 16 days, a rescue operation hit by repeated setbacks. DETERMIND TO DIG Rescue personnel arrive for manual drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand state, northern India on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. AFP PHOTO DETERMINED TO DIG Rescue personnel arrive for manual drilling at the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand state, northern India on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. "Preparations are being made to start manual drilling work," he said. Digging, blasting and drilling have also begun from the far side of the road tunnel, a much longer third route estimated to be about 480 m.The 41 construction workers have been trapped in the Silkyara road tunnel since November 12.
