[1/5] Heavy machinery is used amid rescue operations after workers got trapped in a collapse of an under-construction tunnel, in Uttarkashi, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, November 26, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas Acquire Licensing RightsSILKYARA, India, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Indian rescuers began drilling vertically on Sunday from the top of a mountain under which 41 workers became trapped two weeks ago while working on a highway tunnel in the Himalayas, government officials said. The men, construction workers from some of India's poorest states, have been stuck in the 4.5-km (3-mile) tunnel being built in Uttarakhand state since it caved in early on Nov. 12. But rescuing them will take much longer than previously hoped as rescuers have switched to manual drilling following damage to the drilling machine, officials said on Saturday. Initially, the rescue plan involved pushing a pipe wide enough to pull the trapped men out on wheeled stretchers.

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Persons: Francis Mascarenhas, Deepak Patil, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Mayank Bhardwaj, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Authorities, Rescuers, Reuters, Sunday, Thomson Locations: Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, India