Rescue teams are sending water, food, oxygen and messages of assurance through pipes to labourers trapped in a partially collapsed mountain tunnel in Uttarakhand but a rescue may take time, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on Monday.

“The rescue teams sent (written) messages to the trapped labourers through a pipe, assuring them they are safe, and received messages (saying the labourers are safe) from them,” Dhami told reporters at the site in the morning.

Some 36 labourers have been trapped since 5am on Sunday after a 60-metre stretch of the under-construction tunnel in Uttarkashi district collapsed following a landslide.

“The rescuers needed Hume pipes, which were brought today from Haridwar. The problem is that as soon as some debris is removed, more of it falls and fills the cleared space,” Dhami said.

“However, we have sent them food (gram and jaggery) and water through pipes
with the help of a compressor. There is electricity inside the tunnel and about 200 metres of space on the other side for the labourers to move about.”

Dhami suggested at an afternoon news conference that it would take some more
time to bring the labourers out, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured every support over the phone.