Rescuers on Monday pushed through a six-inch-wide pipeline through the rubble of a collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand, a breakthrough that will help them supply larger quantities of food and other essentials to 41 workers trapped for eight days.

Earlier, a four-inch tube was being used to supply food like dry fruit and medicines and oxygen into the section of the tunnel beyond the rubble.

The new pipeline will allow food items like roti and sabji to be sent to the workers.

NHIDCL Director Anshu Manish Kalkho called it the "first breakthrough" at the site.

"We have sent the pipe 53 metres to the other side of the rubble and the trapped workers can hear and experience us," Kalkho said.

A portion of the under-construction tunnel in Silkyara village in Uttarkashi district, part of the ambitious Char Dham all-weather road project, collapsed due to a landslide on November 12, trapping 41 workers.

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