Tunnel expert Chris Cooper, who is advising the rescue teams, said Monday he was optimistic that they would break through. Rescuers have brought in a superheated plasma cutter to slice through submerged metal rods that have repeatedly impeded progress.
While one worker drills, a second scoops up the rubble by hand, and the third places it on a wheeled trolley to be pulled out, Rai said, according to PTI's Tuesday report. Rajput Rai, a drilling expert, told the Press Trust of India that three-person teams are taking turns working at the rock face inside a metal pipe, just wide enough for someone to squeeze through. Soldiers and skilled miners are using a so-called 'rat-hole' mining technique to clear the final stretch, digging through some two metres (six feet) of rubble to leave only an estimated seven metres (23 feet) to go. SILKYARA TUNNEL (INDIA) - Indian rescue teams crept forward Tuesday in a painstaking dig by hand through rock and rubble towards 41 workers who have been trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 17 days. The Silkyara road tunnel in northern India, which partially collapsed on November 12
