India rescuers within five metres of reaching 41 trapped workers

Indian rescue teams digging by hand are within just five metres of reaching 41 men trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 17 days, officials said Tuesday, saying a breakthrough was expected “soon.”

“The escape passage has been prepared up to 52 metres (170 feet) inside the tunnel, and passage will breakthrough at 57 metres (187 feet)… the rescue operation is expected to be completed soon,” chief minister of Uttarakhand state Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters at the site, without giving a specific timeframe.

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