NEW DELHI (AP) — Attempts to succeed in 41 construction workers caught in a collapsed tunnel in northern India for 2 weeks have been once more stymied Saturday.

The drilling machine broke down late Friday whereas making its approach by way of the rubble, stones and steel, forcing the rescuers to work by hand to take away particles in hopes of reaching the stranded staff, however the entire operation has floor to a halt.

Arnold Dix, a global knowledgeable aiding the rescue group on the website within the mountainous Uttarakhand state, mentioned that it was unclear when the drilling will begin once more.

“The machine is busted. It is irreparable,” he instructed reporters. “The mountain has once again resisted the auger (machine).”

Dix mentioned the rescuers would want to tug out your complete drilling machine and substitute it to restart the digging. He did not specify how a lot time that it could take.

The staff have been trapped since Nov. 12 when a landslide prompted a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel they have been constructing to break down about 200 meters (650 ft) from the doorway. The mountainous terrain within the space has confirmed to be a problem for the drilling machine, which had earlier damaged twice as rescue groups tried to dig horizontally towards the trapped staff.

The machine stopped working after it had drilled about two meters (6.5 ft) of the final stretch of 12 meters (40 ft) of rock particles that may open a passage for the employees to come back out from the tunnel.

Rescuers have inserted pipes into the dug-out channel and welded them collectively to function a passageway from the place the lads could be pulled out on wheeled stretchers. About 46 meters (151 ft) of pipe has been put in to this point, in accordance with Devendra Patwal, a catastrophe administration officer.

Meanwhile, a brand new drilling machine used to dig vertically was delivered to the location Saturday.

The vertical dig is seen in its place plan to succeed in the trapped males, and rescuers have already created an entry highway to the highest of the hill. However, rescue groups might want to dig 103 meters (338 ft) downward to succeed in the trapped staff — almost double the gap of the horizontal shaft.

Authorities have equipped the trapped staff with sizzling meals fabricated from rice and lentils by way of a six-inch (15-centimeter) pipe after days once they survived on dry meals despatched by way of a narrower pipe. Oxygen is being equipped by way of a separate pipe, and greater than a dozen docs, together with psychiatrists, have been on the website monitoring their well being.

Most of the trapped staff are migrant laborers from throughout the nation. Many of their households have traveled to the placement, the place they’ve camped out for days to get updates on the rescue effort and in hopes of seeing their kinfolk quickly.

The tunnel the employees have been constructing was designed as a part of the Chardham all-weather highway, which is able to join varied Hindu pilgrimage websites. Some specialists say the venture, a flagship initiative of the federal authorities, will exacerbate fragile circumstances within the higher Himalayas, the place a number of cities are constructed atop landslide particles.

Large numbers of pilgrims and vacationers go to Uttarakhand’s many Hindu temples, with the quantity rising through the years due to the continued development of buildings and roadways.