SILKYARA, India—The first photographs of 41 men stranded for more than a week in a highway tunnel in the Indian Himalayas surfaced on Tuesday, showing them standing in the cramped environment and speaking with rescue officials.
The guys have been trapped in the 4.5-kilometer (3-mile) tunnel in Uttarakhand state since early November 12 and are safe, according to officials, with access to light, air, food, water, and medications.
The reason of the cave-in is unknown, although the area is prone to landslides, earthquakes, and floods. Snags in digging through the rubble in the rugged terrain have hindered efforts to extract the 41 guys.
Authorities presented a 30-second video in which approximately a dozen of the stranded men stood in a semi-circle in front of the camera, wearing helmets and construction worker jackets over their clothing against the backdrop of the tunnel lights.
Outside, a rescue worker could be heard urging the guys to come forward one by one, to check their names on the walkie-talkie gear that had been sent in.
According to police, the footage was captured with a medical endoscope camera that was inserted through a second, bigger conduit 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter that was bored through the rubble on Monday.
According to one officer in the rescue control center who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the trapped guys looked to be doing great on the video, answering questions about their well-being by saying they were fine.
On Tuesday, rescuers plan to continue horizontal drilling through a 60-metre (195-ft) mound of rubble in order to drive through a pipe wide enough for the trapped men to climb out.
Drilling was halted on Friday due to a machine malfunction and worries of another collapse.
Authorities are also working on five additional options to extract the workers, including digging vertically from the mountain's summit.
Abhishek Sharma, a psychiatrist dispatched by the state government to the location, said he had urged the 41 men to walk inside the 2-km (1.2-mile) area where they are confined, practice mild yoga exercises, and converse among themselves on a regular basis to keep them engaged.
“Sleep is very important for them … and as of now they have been sleeping well and not reported any difficulties in sleeping,” Mr. Sharma told Reuters, adding that the men were in good spirits and keen to emerge soon.
Prem Pokhriyal, another doctor on the scene, said the men had been advised to avoid strenuous exercise, which might increase the accumulation of carbon dioxide gas in the restricted area when they breathe out.
The trapped men are low-wage workers, the most of whom come from impoverished areas in India's north and east.
“He said he is doing fine,” Sunita Hembrom, the sister-in-law of one of the workers trapped in the tunnel, Surendra Kisko, told reporters after she spoke to him.
“He said, ‘Take care of yourselves, the children and parents. Just tell us what they are doing to get us out of here.’”
