Two thirds of rubble drilled into collapsed tunnel in India where 41 workers are trapped

“I am very happy to announce... that 39 meters of drilling has been completed,” said Mahmood Ahmad, a Roads and Highways Ministry official involved in the operations.

Engineers are working to push a large steel tube through the tunnel rubble along a length of at least 57 meters of dirt and rock that separates trapped workers from freedom.

“If there is no blockage, we hope to have good news late tonight or tomorrow,” Mr. Ahmad told reporters at the scene.

“This is very good news for us, because we are moving at a rapid pace,” he added.

However, he warned that the section that remains to be drilled represents a critical phase.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday spoke of the "positive progress made in the last 24 hours", without providing further details.

But in a statement, the government stressed that "deadlines provided are subject to change due to technical issues, difficult Himalayan terrain and unforeseen emergencies."

An AFP journalist at the site on Tuesday saw trucks bringing man-width sections of metal tubes to the tunnel entrance, which then began to be welded together in jets of metal. sparks, to create a safe escape route for workers.

Excavators have already removed tons of earth, concrete and rubble following the collapse of the tunnel under construction on November 12 in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

Rescue efforts were complicated and slowed by falling debris and successive breakdowns of crucial drilling machines.

Last week, a drilling machine hit rocks and drilling was suspended for more than three days after a crack in the tunnel was heard and "caused panic," officials said.