SILKYARA TUNNEL, INDIA – Ambulances were on standby Thursday as Indian rescuers dug through the final meters of rubble separating them from 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks.

Rescue teams have specially equipped wheeled stretchers ready to pull the exhausted men out through 57 meters (187 feet) of steel pipe – once it’s pushed through the final stretch of the tons of earth, concrete and rubble blocking their escape.

Emergency vehicles and a field hospital were standing by, AFP journalists at the scene said, preparing to receive the men trapped since part of the tunnel under construction in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand collapsed 12 days ago.

“We have been rehearsing how to get people out safely,” National Disaster Response Force chief Atul Karwal told reporters on Thursday.

“The boys will go in first,” he said. “We have put wheels under the stretchers so that as we go in we can get people out on the stretcher one at a time – we are prepared in every way.”

However, rescue efforts continued to face delays, including more falling debris, fears of further collapses and drill failures, as progress was slowed by further mechanical problems on Thursday.

“HIMALAYAN GEOLOGY IS THE ENEMY”

“The remaining 10 to 12 meters (32 to 39 feet) … we don’t know what lies ahead, but we are ready to deal with it,” Karwal said, adding that the trapped men were “keeping their morale up.” .

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the work was on a “war footing” and a “team of doctors, ambulances, helicopters and a field hospital” had been set up.

Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior official at the National Disaster Management Authority, refused to say when the men might be released.

“This is like a battle,” the retired general told reporters. “You can’t set a timeline. In battle you don’t know what the enemy is going to do.”

“Here the land is your enemy. Himalayan geology is the enemy… it is very challenging work.”

Experts warn of the impact of major construction work in Uttarakhand, large parts of which are prone to landslides.

“The rescuers and the workers trapped inside are equally at risk,” Hasnain added.

Prayers for safe release

There was a lot of activity at the entrance to the Silkyara tunnel, an AFP journalist said.

Worried relatives have gathered outside the site where a Hindu shrine has been erected, and a priest prayed for the safe rescue of the trapped men.

“The day they come out of the tunnel will be the greatest and happiest day for us,” said Chanchal Singh Bisht, 35, whose 24-year-old cousin Pushkar Singh Ary is trapped inside.

In case the route through the main tunnel entrance does not work, rescuers also began blasting and drilling at the other end of the unfinished tunnel, which is almost half a kilometer long.

Preparations were also made for a risky vertical shaft directly above.

The workers were seen alive for the first time on Tuesday as they looked into the lens of an endoscopic camera sent by rescuers through a thin pipe that carries air, food, water and electricity.

Even though they are trapped, they have plenty of space: the area inside is 8.5 meters high and stretches about two kilometers long.

The tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s infrastructure project aimed at reducing travel times between some of the country’s most popular Hindu attractions and improving access to strategic areas on the border with rival China.