“Except drilling, other necessary work is going on,” Ruhela said. On Saturday, the key work of drilling through the tonnes of earth and rock to reach the men was still on hold, Ruhela said. “But all of them have just one question: ‘When will you bring us out?’” “We keep sending word in, inquiring about their health,” Mohammed Rizwan, part of the rescue team, told the Times of India. Food, water, oxygen and medicine have also been sent via a 15cm (6in)-wide pipe. Rescuers have been using radios to communice with the trapped men. Operations were then halted amid the possibility of “further collapse”, NHIDCL said. The government’s highways and infrastructure company, NHIDCL, said a sudden cracking sound late on Friday had “created a panic situation in the tunnel” and led to fears the roof could cave in.
On Saturday, a senior local civil servant, Abhishek Ruhela, said 41 men were trapped – one more than the construction company had reported – which prompted accusations of negligence.
