Rescuers are preparing for another effort at freeing the workers from behind 200 metres of rubble (Picture: Reuters)
Friends and family members have gathered outside a collapsed Indian road tunnel as around 40 workers begin their fourth day trapped inside.
The tunnel, located on the Yamunotri National Highway in Uttarakhand state, caved in early on Sunday morning while dozens were still working on it.
They are now growing sick, with local magistrate Abhishek Ruhela saying workers have sent messages to say some were suffering from body aches, fever and nerves.
Two of the people trapped are also believed to have been injured by falling debris.
Around 200 people from both the State and National Disaster Response Forces are involved in the rescue effort, while the government of the state of Uttarakhand is also providing assistance.
Rescuers say various supplies – including food, water medicine and oxygen tanks – have been passed through to the workers.
But the relatives on the scene are growing impatient and frustrated with the progress of the effort, which relies on wide pipes that are set to be drilled through the rubble in order to create a passage.
The drilling has been hampered by loose debris and a technical fault in the drilling machine, according to state government official Gaurav Singh.
A new machine has since been installed on the site.
The workers have now spent three full days stuck in the tunnel (Picture: AFP)
The rescue teams will push steel pipes 76 centimetres wide through an opening of excavated debris using hydraulic jacks (Picture: EPA)
Ranjit Sinha, a disaster management official, said: ‘These are challenges in such rescue operations, but we will overcome them.’
Local media reports said around 200 metres of the 2.8 mile tunnel had fallen in during work to link the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Silkyara and Dandalgaon.
Pictures from the scene show a vast amount of rubble blocking the tunnel, with twisted metal cables protruding from the top.
Dozens of road workers are stuck behind 200 metres of rubble.