India tunnel collapse rescue effort turns to "rat miners" with 41 workers still stuck after 16 days

New Delhi — For 16 days, authorities in India have tried several approaches to rescuing 41 construction workers trapped in a partially collapsed highway tunnel in the Himalayas, but on Monday, the workers remained right where they have been. The frustrating rescue efforts, beset by the technical challenges of working in an unstable hillside, were turning decidedly away from big machines Monday and toward a much more basic method: human hands.

On Friday, rescuers claimed there were just a few more yards of debris left to bore through between them and the trapped men. But the huge machine boring a hole to insert a wide pipe horizontally through the debris pile, through which it was hoped the men could crawl out, broke, and it had to be removed.

Since then, rescuers have tried various strategies to access the section of tunnel where the men are trapped, boring both horizontally and vertically toward them, but failing.