Forty workers are trapped in a collapsed road tunnel in northern India for a seventh day as rescuers wait for a new machine to drill through the rubble so they can crawl to their freedom.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
On Friday, the drilling was interrupted when some machine bearings became damaged by the breaking of rocks and clearing of debris, officials said, adding a new challenge to the long-drawn rescue efforts.
A new machine was expected to reach the accident site later Saturday, allowing rescuers to start drilling again, said Vijay Singh, an officer at the control room.
Authorities began drilling into the rubble and debris on Thursday and have so far covered a stretch of 24 meters (79 feet), said Devendra Patwal, a disaster management official, said.
But rescue efforts hit a snag after a loud cracking sound came from within the tunnel, startling the authorities, who paused the drilling after they found parts of the machine damaged, Tarun Kumar Baidya, director at the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, said from the accident site.
The construction workers have been trapped since Sunday when a landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 meters (650 feet) from the entrance.
It was replaced with an American Auger machine with a drilling capacity of up to 5 meters (16 feet) per hour and is equipped with a 99-centimeter (3.2-foot) diameter pipe to clear debris.
The original article contains 614 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This makes me remember the 33 chileans that were trapped in a mine after it collapsed for 2 months that eventually were rescued.
