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Trapped in a Tunnel for 15 Days, With No End in Sight
The effort to rescue 41 construction workers in India has faced repeated setbacks. Now the authorities are trying to drill vertically through a mountain.
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The rescue effort on Sunday outside the collapsed tunnel in India. Credit...Harish Tyagi/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Suhasini Raj
Nov. 27, 2023
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Over the two weeks that dozens of Indian construction workers have been trapped in a Himalayan road tunnel, the authorities have reported meter-by-meter progress toward reaching them and offered hopeful timelines for their rescue. Each time a breakthrough has appeared imminent, politicians have rushed to the scene.
Yet 15 days after disaster struck, the 41 men are still stuck. Multiple attempts at boring through rubble have failed. And now, as Indian officials try a new tack — drilling down through the top of a mountain — they acknowledge that the effort will take several days, if it works at all.
“We feel a looming sense of doom,” said Jyotish Basumatary, whose brother, Sanjay Basumatary, is trapped inside. “But we are holding on tight. We cannot afford to give up hope.”
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Suhasini Raj has worked for over a decade as an investigative journalist with Indian and international news outlets. Based in the New Delhi bureau, she joined The Times in 2014. More about Suhasini Raj
A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 28, 2023, Section A , Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Looming Sense of Doom’ For 41 Trapped in Tunnel . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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