The Indian prime minister’s office has joined efforts to rescue 41 workers stuck in an under-construction tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand where they have been trapped for more than a week.
Officials from various departments met Sunday to examine options to try to access the trapped workers and to provide them with food and supplies, the government said in a statement. Efforts to lay pipes to deliver the goods were suspended because of fears that the movement of the earth could further endanger the workers, and the authorities would need to first secure the structure, according to the statement.
The air force is helping airlift the necessary equipment for the operation and the army is assisting, the government said. India’s Border Roads Organisation is building an access road to the area where a vertical hole will be drilled to help provide supplies to the trapped workers.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari are scheduled to inspect the site Sunday and to receive updates on the relief work.