2010-07-13 13:52

BINYANG, Guangxi -- Rescuers said Tuesday the drilling of a passage through the debris of a collapsed railway tunnel in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to rescue 10 trapped workers is progressing slowly.

By 9:00 am Tuesday, rescuers had dug six meters into the 40- to 50-meter-long collapsed section of the railway tunnel in Binyang County, Nanning City, capital of the autonomous region.

The debris is mainly rocks, which is difficult to drill through, and so it might take four days to reach the trapped workers, rescuers said.

The workers are stranded in a space about 8 meters long. But rescuers have been able to pass to them water, milk, flashlights, paper and pens through three ventilation holes drilled into the space Monday night.

Workers had dug 300 meters of the 800-meter tunnel when the accident happened at about 4 pm Sunday.

Nanning railway officer Wu Wenning said Tuesday all of the trapped workers are in good condition and that they have been communicating with rescuers through paper notes passed through the ventilation holes.

The tunnel's construction was being undertaken by the No. 18 Bureau of the China Railway Group Ltd.

The line will connect Nanning and Litang, an industrial town in Guangxi.