In India, two of 41 workers were freed today from a collapsed road tunnel after 17 days. The men were taken out on rollaway stretchers, local television footage showed.
It was previously possible to drill a pipe with a diameter of about 90 centimeters through the rubble, said the head of government of the affected state of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami.
Rescue teams had to continue digging the last few meters using their hands and small tools because all the machines had already failed. Now the men were to be taken out through the pipe into the open air.
APA/AFP/Sajjad Hussain
Workers have been trapped since November 12 in the 4.5-kilometer-long road tunnel, which partially collapsed after a landslide during construction. They received food, water, oxygen and medicine through narrow pipes.
They also had a telephone connection through which they could keep in touch with their waiting relatives.