"We Are At Front Door": Tunnel Rescue Op Resumes, Less Than 10 Metres Left

"We are at the front door and are knocking on it... we know the guys are there on the other side," Arnold Dix, one of several international experts also being consulted, said.

Efforts to rescue 41 workers trapped in an underground Uttarakhand tunnel were paused briefly, officials said Thursday morning, after the auger drilling holes into the hillside hit a metal obstruction. 

Drilling resumed only after the metal obstruction has been removed. Officials have told NDTV the rescue operation could take another six to seven hours.

"We have covered a majority of the distance and there is (only a) little work left. Our teams are continuously trying to overcome technical problems... we are taking advice from experts. Not possible to say when it will end," Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela said.