India orders safety audit of tunnels after collapse in Himalayas

Members of rescue teams use an auger inside a tunnel where workers have been trapped for ten days after the tunnel collapsed in Uttarkashi, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Shankar Prasad Nautiyal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will carry out a safety audit of more than two dozen tunnels it is building after one such tunnel in the Himalayas collapsed this month, trapping 41 construction workers, the government said on Wednesday.

Rescuers have been battling to pull out the 41 men stuck in a 4.5-km (3-mile) tunnel in the mountainous Uttarakhand state since it caved in early on Nov. 12.