Indian tunnel: Rescuers consider manual drilling in final phase of operation

With the auger machine running into hurdles in the rubble, Indian rescuers are mulling switching over to manual drilling at the collapsed portion of a highway tunnel in the Himalayas in the northern state of Uttarakhand where 41 labourers remained trapped for 13 days, officials said today.

In the final phase of the rescue operation, drilling at the collapsed portion to rescue the trapped men was halted again late last night, in yet another setback to the multi-agency effort, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Rescuers said only 1,012 metres of drilling remains to be undertaken in the last phase of the rescue effort.

Before the brief period of drilling yesterday, 46.8 metres of the 800 mm wide steel pipe had been pushed into the drilled passage -- out of the collapsed stretch estimated to be about 60 metres long.

The six-inch wide tube for supplying food and other essential items to the workers had travelled 57 metres.