Digging to rescue 41 workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in India halted after machine breaks

Efforts to rescue 41 trapped Indian workers inside a collapsed tunnel in northern Uttarakhand state enter their third week today, as rescuers mount three separate digging approaches to the enclosed laborers. All of the 41 men are reportedly in good health and receiving regular hot meals, water, and medicine via a small pipe.
The collapse first occurred Nov. 12 amid construction of the three-mile Silkyara tunnel, one part of the government's Char Dham highway project connecting four Hindu pilgrimage sites. Rescuers bored horizontally through a section of nearly 200 feet of fallen rock, coming within 30 feet of the cavern before the drill hit metal girders and malfunctioned late last week. A superheated plasma cutter was airlifted to the region Sunday by the military to clear the broken machine, and slower manual drilling was expected to resume. Two other teams are simultaneously digging from above and from the far side of the tunnel.