Day after day the families have been waiting, praying their relatives trapped behind tonnes of debris in a collapsed Indian road tunnel for 11 days will escape safely.
As they watch the tunnel entrance, where bulldozers and excavators are busy as efforts to drill through the vast piles of tumbled earth, rock and concrete continue, they plan how they will celebrate when their loved ones are free.
“The day they will come out of the tunnel, it will be the biggest, happiest day for us,” said Chanchal Singh Bisht, 35, whose 24-year-old cousin Pushkar Singh Ary is trapped inside.
A portion of the under-construction tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand collapsed on November 12.
In the distance, sparks fly from the tunnel entrance, where welders are fixing together metal tubes, which are then being driven into the earth to build a safe exit for the 41 men.
Initially fearing the worst, Bisht said he and his family had been reassured after he spoke to his cousin via radio on Tuesday.
“The family was starting to worry, but after speaking to him, there is a sense of relief and hope that he will come out,” Bisht told AFP.
‘Brave’
The workers were seen alive for the first time on Tuesday, peering into the lens of an endoscopic camera sent by rescuers down a thin pipe through which air, food and water are being delivered.
Bisht said the trapped men were in good spirits.
“They are brave… they are waiting for their rescue,” he said. “I could sense from his voice that he is fine. He said he is playing games and chatting with the others.”
Rescuers said Wednesday they had drilled two-thirds of the way through debris, but operations have been repeatedly complicated by falling debris as well as repeated breakdowns of crucial heavy-drilling machines.
The giant earth-boring machine last week ran into boulders, and drilling was put on hold for more than three days after a cracking sound in the roof.
Bisht said authorities initially told them the men would be out in a day or two.
“Politicians and engineers came and gave us assurances but what can we do? We can only wait”, he said, offering sharp criticism of the early rescue efforts.
“They took it lightly,” he said. “I do not understand engineering or technical work but I do feel they were not proactive.”
‘Come home’
Vikram Singh, 34, waiting outside near the tunnel entrance for his brother trapped inside, said he had spoken to him on Wednesday.
“He said he was fine and asked me to go home”. Singh said. “He assured us that he is OK.” Singh, however, continues to wait for his release.
Villagers have set up a small Hindu shrine at the mouth of the tunnel to the local god, Boukhnag, saying the original temple had been moved during construction, which some have blamed for the collapse.
On Wednesday, a Hindu priest sat close to the site holding prayers for the trapped men, with rescue workers pausing briefly to pay their respects before entering the tunnel.
Among those waiting are colleagues of the workers, including Shankar Vaidya, who himself narrowly avoided being trapped inside.
The 21-year-old from Jharkhand state was working on the tunnel construction, and reported small parts of debris had been “gradually falling” before the main roof caved in.
But his shift had finished before the structure collapsed.
“Suddenly the debris fell,” he told AFP Wednesday, saying his uncle and two other migrant workers from his village were inside.
“Our villagers, our families, are worried about when they will be rescued, when they will come home,” he said.
