Colonel Hoang Cong Thao, head of the Lam Dong provincial department of fire prevention and control, said more than 100 rescue workers, including military sappers, have been working in the mission since the accident occurred.
Through the air conduit, they delivered water, milk, and soup to the workers, who informed that they are all in a stable health condition.
Water, milk, and soup is delievered to the workers through air conduit.
By noon December 17, the rescuers reinforced the tunnel to avoid possible collapses while working on a plan to pump water out since learning that water was rising by around 1 meter in the upper part of the collapsed section. They planned to drill a new hole into the tunnel to ventilate the air together with enlarging the air conduit to ably contain a steel hose with a diameter of 70 centimetres for the trapped workers to get out, said Colonel Thao.
Right after the accident, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung dispatched an urgent notice requiring all necessary measures to be deployed to rescue the trapped workers.
Ministers of Construction and Industry and Trade arrived at the site to direct rescue work.
Work on the Da Dang-Da Chomo plant in Lac Duong district kicked off in 2003. The VND475 trillion (US$22.6 billion) plant, invested by the Civil Engineering Construction Corp. No. 5 (CIENCO 5), is designed to have a capacity of 22 MW.
Thirty-two workers were in the tunnel when the collapse occurred and 20 of them ran out successfully.