Trapped in a Tunnel for 15 Days, With No End in Sight

Over the two weeks that dozens of Indian construction workers have been trapped in a Himalayan road tunnel, the authorities have reported meter-by-meter progress toward reaching them and offered hopeful timelines for their rescue. Each time a breakthrough has appeared imminent, politicians have rushed to the scene.

Yet 15 days after disaster struck, the 41 men are still stuck. Multiple attempts at boring through rubble have failed. And now, as Indian officials try a new tack — drilling down through the top of a mountain — they acknowledge that the effort will take several days, if it works at all.

“We feel a looming sense of doom,” said Jyotish Basumatary, whose brother, Sanjay Basumatary, is trapped inside. “But we are holding on tight. We cannot afford to give up hope.”

Jyotish, who works in a different part of the tunnel project and has been helping with the rescue endeavor, said he is now worried that colder weather would make the effort even more complicated. If it rains, “the workers’ hands would freeze,” he said by phone.

The 41 construction workers became stranded on Nov. 12 in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand after a landslide in the delicate mountain landscape caused a collapse in the tunnel they were building as part of a road construction project.