2-Metre Digging Still Left Before 41 Trapped Workers Can Be Pulled Out

Less than seven feet stand between 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyari tunnel and freedom from their underground prison of 17 days, Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd.), a member of the National Disaster Management Authority, said Tuesday. Rescue teams are clearing the final few metres of debris - thanks to the banned manual "rat-hole"-mining technique employed after high-tech machines, or augers, failed to drill 60 metres - and lay two-feet wide pipes to create an escape route.