NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Rescuers digging through the rubble in a collapsed train tunnel got within about one metre of one of the three trapped workers on Wednesday but no closer.
Rain later in the day forced them to withdraw from the tunnel, where work was continuing to break up large rocks blocking the way to the three trapped men. As of 9pm, none of the men had been reached yet, the Nakhon Ratchasima public relations office said.
Rescue teams were moving very carefully towards the three men, whose vital signs were still being detected by scanners, Nakhon Ratchasima governor Chaiwat Chuenkosum said earlier in the day.
Soil and rocks continued to fall in the under-construction tunnel and the safety of both rescuers and victims was a concern. The rescue tunnel had to be shored up with reinforcing supports as they progressed.
“Soil is the main obstacle to the rescue mission,” said Mr Chaiwat.
Falling earth had opened overhead holes and sunlight reached rescuers on Wednesday morning, the governor said.
Officials and rescuers remained optimistic as every scan detected the vital signs of all three trapped men, he said.
“We hope that the vehicles [trapped in the collapsed tunnel] provide a space that protects the three men. Workers in such places receive training in how to survive in the event of a collapse,” he said.
A scan showed that rescuers were about 1.2 metres away from one victim. Another was about four metres away and the third eight metres, he said.
Two of the trapped workers are Chinese, a construction supervisor and a backhoe driver. The other is a Myanmar truck driver.
They have been trapped since the tunnel collapsed on Saturday night. The tunnel is part of the Sino-Thai high-speed railway being built between Bangkok and Nong Khai province, which borders Laos.
The collapse started about 1.5 kilometres from the entrance of the tunnel, which is near the Khlong Khanan Chit train station in tambon Chan Thuek of Pak Chong district in Nakhon Ratchasima.
A closer look at the passageway that rescuers hope to use to bring three trapped men out of the tunnel. (Photo: Nakhon Ratchasima Public Relations Department Facebook)
Nakhon Ratchasima governor Chaiwat Chuenkosum points to the location of the trapped workers on a cut-away drawing of the collapsed tunnel at the rescue site on Wednesday morning. He said recuers were just 1.2 metres away from one of the victims. (Screenshot: Facebook page, Public Relations Department Nakhon Ratchasima office)
A scanner screen shows the locations of detected vital signs. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)
