The move comes after failed attempts to dig horizontally and rescue the workers, who became trapped in a cave on November 12.
Rescue efforts were stalled for the first week, with 40 workers trapped in the infrastructure project they were working on. Photo: AP
Officials on the scene said the machinery failure caused a "panic" that forced them to pause their efforts to force a steel pipe through the debris just wide enough for the men to crawl through and reassess their options.
Rescuers hope digging can begin as soon as Tuesday when new machinery arrives, according to Jasvant Kapoor, general manager of state-owned SJVN, which is involved in the rescue effort.
Foreign experts were called in, including independent disaster investigator Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnel and Space Association.
“We will find a solution and get them out,” Dix told reporters on Monday. “There is a lot of work going on here. It is important that not only the people being rescued but also the people doing the rescue are safe.”
Several potential solutions to reach those trapped, including restarting the halted horizontal pipeline installation, are still being considered.
“Every effort is being made,” Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a statement on Monday, stressing that “the workers trapped in the tunnel are safe.”
They are being provided with light, oxygen, dry food such as nuts, rice and green beans, water and medicine through pipes. They can communicate via radio.
Authorities are drilling a second pipe into the rubble so that cooked food can be transported. Bhaskar Khulbe, the officer in charge of the tunnel project, said about 42 metres of the total 60 metres have been drilled.
Officials are also looking into installing a fibre optic cable through the pipe, hoping to give the men access to phones so they can talk to their loved ones.
About 50 to 60 workers were on the night shift at the time of the collapse; those closest to the tunnel exit were able to get out in time while others were not.
The tunnel is part of a new highway linking Hindu pilgrimage sites in the hard-to-reach Himalayas. The project will also improve access to strategic areas of the country near the border with China.
Authorities have not said what caused the 4.5-km tunnel to collapse, but the area is prone to landslides, earthquakes and flooding.
Mai Anh (according to AP, DW)
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