Collapsed Indian tunnel had no safety exit, was built through geological fault - panel member

Media personnel and onlookers gather near the entrance of a tunnel under construction where workers are trapped following a collapse, in Uttarkashi, in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Rahul Grover

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A tunnel which collapsed, trapping 41 workers in the Indian Himalayas this month, did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster said on Friday.

Rescuers are still struggling to reach the construction workers 12 days after the 4.5-km (3-mile) tunnel caved in. The men, from some of India's poorest states, have been getting food, water and medicine through a pipe.