Indian rescuers send medicine to 40 tunnel workers trapped for 4 days

Indian rescuers said Wednesday they had sent medicine to 40 men trapped after the road tunnel they were building collapsed, as frantic efforts to free them entered a fourth day.

Excavators have been removing debris since Sunday morning from the site in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to create an escape tunnel for the workers, all of whom are still alive.

"After consultation with doctors, medicine has been sent to the workers through pipes," police officer Prashant Kumar told AFP from the site. "Contact is being maintained with the workers."

No details were given about the condition of the men or how many of them were sick. Food and oxygen had also been sent to the trapped workers, he said.

But as rescue teams removed the vast piles of rubble, more fell from the broken roof of the tunnel, and two labourers working to remove the debris were injured overnight, he added.

The pace of drilling was "slow because of natural causes", but efforts were being made on a "war footing", Uttarakhand state police chief Ashok Kumar said in a statement on Wednesday.

The air force on Wednesday flew in a "drilling machine which will speed up rescue work", he added.

Photos released by government rescue teams soon after the collapse showed huge piles of rubble blocking the wide tunnel, with twisted metal bars from its roof poking down in front of slabs of concrete.

Engineers are using heavy machinery to drive a steel pipe with a width of 90 centimetres (nearly three feet) through the debris, wide enough for the trapped men to squeeze through.

"We should keep our patience and trust," Kumar said. "I am sure that we will rescue all the labourers."

The 4.5-kilometre (2.7-mile) tunnel was being constructed between the towns of Silkyara and Dandalgaon to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri, two of the holiest Hindu shrines.

• India: Rescuers dig to reach 40 workers trapped in collapsed road tunnel