One of the suggested routes is more than a quarter mile long and almost half kilometer long.
The men could be seen peering at the endoscopic camera that rescuers were using to send air, food, and water down a thin pipe while they were still wearing their helmets.
In a video that was made public by state authorities, rescuers could be heard telling the trapped men,” We will bring you out safely, do not worry.”
Since November 12, when a section of the tunnel collapsed, excavators have been removing tons of dirt, concrete, and rubble from the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand, in the northern Himalayas.
However, rescue efforts have been sluggish, made more difficult by falling debris and numerous heavy-drilling machine breakdowns, necessitating twice the air force’s need to airlift new equipment.
In an effort to create a secure exit route, trucks were bringing sections of metal tubes the width of men into the tunnel’s entrance, and flashes of light were welding them together, according to an AFP journalist who was present on the scene on Tuesday.
” Top priority”-
Rescuers had been using radios to communicate with the men inside the tunnel before the camera was introduced.
Pushkar Singh Dhamis, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, stated in a statement that” all the workers are completely safe.”
” We’re doing everything we can to get them out quickly and safely.”
Dhami claimed to have discussed the situation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that Moditold him saving the workers was a” top priority.”
Engineers had been attempting to drill a steel pipe through at least 57 meters ( 187 feet ) of rock and earth, just wide enough to fit increasingly desperate men.
However, the enormous earth-boring device they were using collided with boulders, necessitating a “panicsituation,” according to officials, which forced them to stop drilling on that route on Friday.
The Emergency Operation Center for the state of Uttarakhand reported that it resumed on Tuesday.
-Complex operations
In order to reach the men, rescue teams are also preparing two fresh strategies.
One entails forcing rescuers to carve a brand-new track to the hilltop in order to access the necessary heavy equipment by drilling vertical shafts down from the forested hill above.
According to officials, the proposed vertical shaft would need to be an apotentially complex dig above the men in an already collapsed area, measuring 89 meters ( 291 feet ).
According to officials, the other is to approach from the opposite side of the road tunnel, a much longer route of about 480 meters.
The camera was sent down through a 15-centimeter ( six-inch ) pipe that was successfully installed on Monday to widen the tube used to deliver supplies to the men.
Adrone is hoped to be sent down as well to assess the menare trapped area’s stability.
Through the new pipe, hot meals were also delivered.
Top local civil servant Abhishek Ruhela told AFP that” we have sent 24bottles with meals and bananas to the trapped workers.”
In Uttarakhand, where significant portions of the state are prone to landslides, experts have issued warnings about the effects of extensive construction.
The 4.5-kilometer tunnel is a part of Modi’s infrastructure initiatives to shorten travel times between some of the nations most well-known Hindu sites and to enhance access to key border regions with China.
ArnoldDix, the president of the International Tunneling and Underground SpaceAssociation and an independent Australian disaster investigator, has been among the foreign experts enlisted.
Dix stated to the Press Trust of India news agency,” Those 41 menare coming home.” ” Exactly when?” I’m not sure.
