Briefly

INDIA

Rescuers near 41 trapped workers

Ambulances were on standby Thursday morning as Indian rescuers dug through the final meters of debris separating them from 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks. Emergency vehicles and a field hospital stood ready, preparing to receive the men who authorities hope will soon be freed from the tunnel in Uttarakhand state, Agence France-Presse reported. Engineers have been digging for days to drive a steel pipe through some 57 meters of earth, concrete and rubble that has divided the trapped men from freedom since a portion of the under-construction tunnel caved in on Nov 12. After days of painfully slow progress, engineers with a powerful drilling machine made a sudden rapid advance on Wednesday, before being slowed with just 12 meters to go after metal rods blocked the route.