On Monday, rescue efforts in India shifted to manual digging as teams aimed to reach 41 construction workers who have been stuck in a collapsed mountain tunnel in the northern part of the country for over two weeks.

According to Kirti Panwar, a spokesperson for the state government, a group of twelve men took turns using handheld drilling tools to excavate through the debris, targeting what was hoped to be the final stretch.

They had already dug nearly 1 meter (3.2 feet) and faced a remaining distance of up to 11 more meters (36 feet).

In addition to the manual efforts, rescuers initiated the creation of a vertical channel using a newly replaced drilling machine, attempting a different approach after a week of horizontal drilling proved challenging due to the rugged terrain.

The initial machine repeatedly broke down before becoming irreparably damaged on Friday, officials reported. The current focus is on establishing a passageway to evacuate the trapped workers, the Associated Press reported.

Rescue teams inserted pipes into the dug-out areas, welding them together to facilitate the removal of the men using wheeled stretchers.

Overnight efforts involved extracting parts of the damaged drilling machine lodged inside the pipes, enabling the commencement of manual digging, as stated by Devendra Patwal, a disaster management official at the site.

The workers have been stranded since November 12, following a landslide in Uttarakhand state that led to the collapse of a section of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel they were constructing, approximately 200 meters (650 feet) from the entrance.

Originally anticipated as a rescue mission lasting only a few days, the operation has extended into weeks, with officials refraining from providing a specific timeline for its completion.

Written by B.C. Begley