EBN- 41 Indian workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 10 days were seen alive on camera Tuesday. They looked exhausted and anxious, as rescuers attempted to create new passageways to free them.
The video was filmed using an endoscopic camera that was slipped inside a new pipe drilled into the tunnel on Monday.
Rescuers also used the pipe to give the workers their first hot meal in days.
So far, they had been subsisting on snacks sent through a narrower pipe inserted earlier.
The under-construction tunnel caved in after a landslide.
The incident took place on the morning of 12 November in the northern state’s Uttarkashi district. Contact with the trapped men was established soon after that and they are being provided oxygen, food and water since then.
On Monday evening, the rescue operation witnessed a breakthrough after rescuers were able to push a six-inch diameter pipe through the debris inside the tunnel.
Officials slipped a small camera attached to a flexible cable into the pipe. They used it to film the trapped men.
In a video released to the press, rescuers can be seen viewing the footage on a computer screen outside the tunnel.
An official asks the men to appear before the camera and smile and wave. The workers also responded to the instructions.
He also tells them that they will rescue them soon and later. He further asks them to identify themselves in front of the camera
At least 40 workers are trapped inside the partially collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The tunnel partially collapsed on 12 November.
