Five new plans to rescue trapped tunnel workers after a week of failed attempts
Five new plans to rescue trapped tunnel workers after a week of failed attempts
prativad 
After a week of fruitless attempts, Indian authorities were considering five new rescue methods for workers trapped beneath a collapsed tunnel in the Indian Himalayas.
Authorities say 41 men who have been trapped in a highway tunnel in Uttarakhand state since November 12 are safe and being fed through a conduit. Although the hillside terrain is prone to landslides, earthquakes, and floods, the reason of the tragedy has not been discovered.
Rescuers had been boring horizontally through the debris towards the trapped miners in the 4.5-kilometer (3-mile) tunnel until Friday, when the auger drilling machine broke and a new one had to be flown in.
Drilling was suspended and it would take four or five more days “to get the good news”, Bhaskar Khulbe, officer on special duty for the tunnel project, said on Friday.
Now the rescue team is considering alternatives including a perpendicular tunnel with two proposed routes and insertion of a pipe six inches (15 cm) wide as a lifeline, according to a government document reviewed by Reuters.
The trapped workers have received Vitamin C and medicines including anti-depression tablets, said RCS Panwar, a health official involved in the rescue efforts.
The health department has set up a camp for health checkups near the site and kept 10 ambulances on standby.
