Why it took 17 days for rescuers in India to get to 41 workers trapped in a mountain tunnel

Indian rescuers faced repeated and unexpected setbacks during the 17 days they dug through a mountain in the country's north to reach 41 construction workers trapped after a tunnel collapsed there earlier this month. They had the help of international tunneling experts and the operation was spearheaded by multiple Indian rescue agencies. It was one of the most significant and complicated rescue operations in India's recent history. Rescuers had to penetrate through solid rock and metal to reach the workers trapped by a Nov. 12 landslide. When a drilling machine failed in the last stages of the rescue, they dug with their bare hands.