Anxious Indian families camp outside collapsed tunnel to see loved ones rescued

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) — Families are anxiously waiting to see their kin trapped inside a tunnel that collapsed on Nov. 12 in northern India.

A massive operation was launched in the Uttarakhand state's Uttarkashi district on Nov. 12 when the under-construction Silkyara Tunnel collapsed, trapping 41 workers.

“We are just waiting to meet him,” Chanchal Singh, whose cousin Pushkar Singh is still trapped in the tunnel, told Anadolu on Friday.

Indian authorities have moved heavy machinery to the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to rescue the workers.

Singh and three more family members arrived at the spot on Nov. 15 and spoke to the trapped cousin. “From the last two days, we couldn’t speak to him because the rescue work is going on inside,” he said.

He added the administration has informed them that the workers may be rescued today or tomorrow.

“Some snags are delaying the rescue … so there is no clarity when exactly they would come out,” he said, adding that the local administration was extending help to the families who are camping outside the tunnel.

State's top elected official Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Friday: “We are all trying to overcome all the obstacles soon and bring out all the labor brothers safely.”

On Friday afternoon, rescue officials said a technical problem that stalled the drilling on Wednesday had been set right, and the operation would begin in the next couple of hours.