印トンネル崩落、閉じ込められた４１人の初映像　事故から１０日

【デラドゥーン（インド）ＡＦＰ＝時事】インド北部ウッタラカンド州で建設中のトンネルが崩落してから１０日が過ぎた２１日、トンネル内に閉じ込められている作業員の姿が初めてカメラに捉えられた。（写真はインド・ウッタラカンド州ウッタルカシで、崩壊した建設中のトンネルに閉じ込められている作業員。同州情報広報局提供）
　今月１２日の崩落事故発生以降、トンネル内には作業員４１人が閉じ込められている。救助隊は長さ５００メートル近いものを含む２本の救出ルートを試みようとしている。
　救助隊は２０日、トンネル内に酸素や食料、飲料水を届けていた管を直径１５センチのパイプと入れ替え、内視鏡カメラを通した。当局が公開した映像によると作業員らはひげが伸び、顔に疲労と不安をにじませながらもカメラをのぞき込んだ。救助隊員は「無事助け出すので心配しないでください」と声を掛けた。
　太くなったパイプを通して初めて、温かい食事も届けられた。
　現場では、土やコンクリート、がれきの撤去作業が進められているが、さらなるがれきの落下や掘削機の度重なる故障などから救助活動に遅れが生じている。
　カメラを投入するまでは中の作業員たちとの交信は無線で行われていた。
　救助隊は当初、約６０メートル分の厚さの土砂と岩に、人が通れる太さの鋼管を水平に打ち込もうとしていた。だが当局によると掘削機が硬い大岩にぶつかってしまい、割れるような音が「パニック状態」を引き起こしたため、このルートの掘削は１７日に中止された。
　■救助方法が複雑化
　現在は新たに２本の救出ルートが準備されている。
　１本は森に覆われた丘から垂直に立坑を掘削するルートだが、丘の頂上まで新たに道を造り、重機を移動する必要がある。また立坑の深さは約９０メートルになると見積もられており、崩落現場の上部での作業は難航することが予想される。
　現地メディアによると、もう１本はトンネルの反対側から現場まで掘削するルートだが、４５０メートル以上の長さが必要とされる。
　作業員たちがいる空間の安定性を評価するため、ドローンの投入も計画されている。
　事故はヒンズー教の聖地へのアクセス向上を目的としたナレンドラ・モディ首相の肝いりプロジェクトだったトンネルで起きた。
　救出チームには、国際トンネル協会会長で、災害調査の専門家であるオーストラリア人のアーノルド・ディックス氏をはじめ海外の専門家が起用されている。
　ディックス氏は印ＰＴＩ通信に「この４１人は帰還する」と述べつつ、「それが正確にいつになるかは分からない」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/22-16:42）

Forty-one Indian workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 10 days were seen alive on camera Tuesday for the first time, looking exhausted and anxious, as rescuers attempted to create new passageways to free them.
One of the proposed routes is nearly half a kilometre (over a quarter of a mile) long.
Still wearing their helmets, the men could be seen peering at the endoscopic camera sent by rescuers down a thin pipe through which air, food and water are being sent.
We will bring you out safely, do not worry, rescuers were heard telling the trapped men as they gathered near the camera, in video released by state authorities.
Excavators have been removing tonnes of earth, concrete and rubble from the under-construction tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand since November 12, after a portion of the tunnel collapsed.
But rescue efforts have been slow, complicated by falling debris as well as repeated breakdowns of crucial heavy-drilling machines, with the air force having to twice airlift in new kit.
An AFP journalist at the site on Tuesday saw trucks bringing in sections of metal tubes the width of a man into the entrance of the tunnel, and flashes of light as they were welded together as part of efforts to create a safe exit route.
- 'Top priority' -
Before the camera was introduced, rescuers had been communicating with the men inside the tunnel using radios.
All the workers are completely safe, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a statement.
We are trying with all our might to get them out safely soon.
Dhami said he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the situation, adding that Modi told him it was a top priority to rescue the workers.
Engineers had been trying to horizontally drive a steel pipe, just wide enough to fit the increasingly desperate men, through at least 57 metres (187 feet) of earth and rock.
But the giant earth-boring machine they were using ran into boulders, and drilling on that route was paused on Friday after a cracking sound created a panic situation, officials said.
It resumed on Tuesday, the Uttarakhand state's Emergency Operation Centre said.
- Complex operations -
Rescue teams are also preparing two new approaches to reach the men.
One involves drilling a vertical shaft down from the forested hill above, forcing rescuers to cut an entirely new track to the hilltop for the heavy equipment needed.
Officials estimated the proposed vertical shaft would need to be 89 metres (291 feet) deep, a potentially complex dig above the men in an area that has already suffered a collapse.
The other is to approach from the far side of the road tunnel, a much longer route estimated to be around 480 metres, officials said.
The tube used to deliver supplies to the men was successfully widened on Monday with the installation of a 15-centimetre (six-inch) pipe, through which the camera was sent down.
It is hoped that a drone can also be sent down to assess the stability of the area where the men are trapped.
Hot meals were also delivered through the new pipe.
We have sent 24 bottles with meals and bananas to the trapped workers, top local civil servant Abhishek Ruhela told AFP.
Experts have warned about the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, where large parts of the state are prone to landslides.
The planned 4.5-kilometre tunnel is part of Modi's infrastructure plans aimed at cutting travel times between some of the most popular Hindu sites in the country, as well as improving access to strategic areas bordering rival China.
Foreign experts have been drafted in, including Australian independent disaster investigator Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association.
Those 41 men are coming home, Dix told the Press Trust of India news agency. Exactly when? Not sure.