New Delhi
CNN
 — 

A frantic effort is underway in northern India to rescue dozens of staff trapped after a mountain tunnel they have been serving to to assemble collapsed on Sunday, leaving them confined behind a pile of rubble with little oxygen and water.

As many as 40 males have been working within the tunnel, a part of an formidable Himalayan freeway challenge on the town of Uttarkashi, when a part of the passageway resulting in the doorway gave approach, authorities stated.

“We are in touch with the men inside. All of them are alright and we are communicating with them,” he stated. “We are all working hard to get them all out,” Uttarkashi superintendent of police, Arpan Yaduvanshi, informed CNN on Monday.

Rescuers have been supplying oxygen and water to the boys by way of the particles, Yaduvanshi added.

Photos and video from the scene confirmed a big machine excavating particles from the darkish tunnel as dozens of rescue officers gathered by the doorway. State and nationwide catastrophe officers have come collectively to help with the operation, alongside native police officers.

Uttarkashi Circle Officer Anuj Kumar stated staff have eliminated about 20 meters (65 ft) of particles and have one other 40 meters (130 ft) to go.

“It would take approximately another day or so to clear it up,” he stated.

The tunnel is a part of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Char Dham Highway challenge, a multimillion-dollar infrastructure plan to enhance connectivity within the state of Uttarakhand and higher entry to essential pilgrimage areas.

Uttarakhand, a mountainous and picturesque state on India’s border with China, is sometimes called “Devbhumi” or “Land of the Gods” owing to its wealthy cultural heritage and the abundance of Hindu spiritual websites.

The Char Dham Highway challenge is anticipated to be almost 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) lengthy, bettering entry to the state from India’s capital New Delhi.

Sunday’s collapse isn’t the primary building catastrophe in current months to make headlines in India, a rustic that has been quickly reworking its infrastructure and spending billions to upgrade its transport network.

In August, more than a dozen workers were killed after a bridge beneath building collapsed within the northeastern state of Mizoram.

In June, a four-lane concrete bridge that was being constructed throughout the River Ganges within the jap state of Bihar collapsed for the second time in simply over a yr, elevating questions concerning the high quality of its building.

Last October, a not too long ago repaired suspension bridge gave approach within the city of Morbi in Gujarat, killing 135 individuals.