Indian rescuers prepare to drill to reach 40 people trapped in collapsed tunnel

People watch rescue and relief operations at the site of an under-construction road tunnel that collapsed in mountainous Uttarakhand state, India (AP)

Rescuers in northern India have supplied food and medicine to 40 construction workers as engineers started drilling through rubble to reach them after a portion of the tunnel they were working on collapsed over the weekend.

Officials planned to insert wide steel pipes to create a passage to free the workers trapped since early on Sunday in the mountainous Uttarakhand state. A new drilling machine was assembled after three Indian air force transport aircraft flew its parts in from New Delhi on Wednesday.