Just a few metres of rock and earth separate Indian rescue teams from 41 workers who have been trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks, officials said Friday, adding they were optimistic of success within hours, reports BSS.
After a series of rapid advances, hopes that the men's freedom was imminent were dashed late Wednesday when the drilling machine powering through tonnes of rock and concrete ran into metal rods, but those have now been cleared.
Rescue teams have stretchers fitted with wheels ready to pull the exhausted men through 57 metres (187 feet) of steel pipe once it has been driven through the final section of rubble blocking their escape.
"We have to (drill) 14 metres further inside the tunnel," Bhaskar Khulbe, a senior government official overseeing rescue efforts, told reporters on Friday.
"If everything goes well, we hope to reach them by today evening," he said, adding that the "trapped workers are in good frame of mind".
But a government statement has also noted that any timeline is "subject to change due to technical glitches, the challenging Himalayan terrain, and unforeseen emergencies".
Ambulances are on standby and a field hospital has been prepared to receive the men, who have been trapped since a portion of the under-construction tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand caved in 13 days ago.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
