Race to rescue foreign workers trapped in collapsed tunnel in Thailand

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Rescuers in Thailand are racing against time to save three workers trapped in a tunnel that collapsed over the weekend at a high-speed rail construction site.

A portion of the tunnel, part of the Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed rail project, collapsed in Nakhon Ratchasima province on Saturday night.

It caved about 1.6km from the entrance near Khlong Khanan Chit train station and the workers were trapped about 600m further inside, Bangkok Post reported.

The State Railway of Thailand said a scanner and a sniffer dog detected body heat and heartbeats from inside the tunnel at about 4am on Monday, lifting hopes of rescuers.

The trapped workers were expected to be rescued by Tuesday evening, railway authorities said in a statement.

The workers were identified as a truck driver from Myanmar, a backhoe operator and an engineer from China. The truck driver was reportedly located three metres from where the tunnel collapsed while the two Chinese workers were 6-10 metres away from him.

Three vehicles – a backhoe, a truck and a car – were also inside the tunnel when it collapsed.

Thailand's transport ministry said rescue tubes were being pushed through the blocked part of the tunnel to reach the trapped men.

The tubes could be used to pump through air and send emergency supplies until the "opening is big enough for rescuers to reach the men", it added.

One of the rescue tubes was believed to have hit one of the vehicles left inside the tunnel at about 11.30pm on Monday, the authorities said on Tuesday morning.

The rescue work was being led by the State Railway of Thailand and supported by a team from China’s Hunan Sunshine, which specialises in disaster response.