Indian army digs by hand to free trapped tunnel workers

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 "Members of the Indian Army are on standby, ready for the next phase of the rescue of

00:05 41 construction workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in northern India.

00:10 For the last two weeks, rescuers have focused on drilling horizontally through the mountain

00:14 to reach the workers.

00:16 This weekend, however, they had to change tack.

00:20 The drill broke down, blocking the rescue path with debris."

00:23 "We removed 20 metres of the damaged machine with 25 metres to go.

00:31 We expect the entire machine will be removed tomorrow morning.

00:34 After that, we'll start manually removing debris."

00:39 Rescue workers will have to use hand-held power tools to breach the last 10 to 15 metres

00:43 of rock that the drill was unable to breach.

00:47 Despite the long wait for rescue, local authorities have confirmed that the trapped workers are

00:52 alive and well.

00:54 This father of a 22-year-old trapped worker said the stress of the incident has spurred

00:59 major life changes.

01:00 "I'll never send him back to work in the tunnels.

01:05 I want him to change his job and stay home.

01:08 I will ask him to become a farmer or do anything else he wants to do."

01:13 The tunnel that collapsed is part of a major highway project to link northern India with

01:18 China.

01:20 Authorities have not said what caused the tunnel to collapse, but the region is prone

01:23 to landslides, earthquakes and floods.

Category

Transcript

Recommended