More than 30 workers engaged in the construction of a power project in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh were trapped in a tunnel Sunday following a cloudburst and flash floods. The flash floods in the Barsaini area of Manikaran, 250 kilometers from Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla, washed away machines worth thousands of dollars belonging to the Parvati Hydel Power Project and triggered landslides, the Doordarshan television network reported. The debris from the landslides blocked the exit of the tunnel in which the labourers were sleeping. The exact number of workers trapped in the tunnel was not immediately known. A spokesman for the private firm, engaged to construct the tunnel, said there could be 30 to 40 workers. Efforts were on to remove the debris and rescue the labourers, he said.
