The first images of the 41 workers who remain trappedmore than a week after a road tunnel collapsed in the Indian Himalayas were released today and show them standing in a small space, communicating with rescuers.

The men have been trapped since November 12, when a 4.5km road tunnel under construction collapsed on a highway, part of a Hindu pilgrimage route in the state of Uttarakhand.

Authorities say those trapped are safe and have access to light, oxygen, food, water and medicine. However, they have not specified what caused the collapse, although there have been many landslides, floods and earthquakes in the area.

Efforts to extricate the workers have been delayed by the difficulty of cutting a hole in the debris from the tunnel collapse to install a conduit that will allow them to rise to the surface.

A 30-second video released by authorities shows about 10 of the trapped workers standing in a semicircle in front of the camera, wearing helmets and safety vests.

A rescuer can be heard asking the men to say their names into the camera, one by one, and confirm their identities via the radio sent to them.

The video was taken with a medical endoscopic camera, which the rescuers brought down through a pipe with a diameter of about 15 centimeters that was installed yesterday Monday.

The men appear to be in good health and are responding to rescuers’ questions, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Today the rescuers they are expected to continue their efforts for cutting a hole through the debris to place a conduit in it large enough to allow the workers to be extricated.

Work was suspended on Friday due to the failure of a machine and concerns of another landslide.

Authorities are simultaneously working on five different plans to free the workers.

Abhishek Sharma, a psychiatrist, went to the scene of the accident and asked the 41 men to walk around in their space, do light yoga exercises and talk to each other.

The trapped men are low-wage workers, most of whom come from poor states in northern and eastern India.