Indian rescuers have paused efforts to reach 41 men trapped in a collapsed road tunnel after a cracking sound created a “panic situation” over the possibility of a further cave-in. Excavators have been removing debris from the tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand since Sunday after a section that the workers had been building collapsed. The week-long rescue efforts have been slowed by falling debris and repeated breakdowns of heavy drilling machines. On Saturday, a senior local civil servant, Abhishek Ruhela, said 41 men were trapped – one more than the construction company had reported – which prompted accusations of negligence. The government’s highways and infrastructure company, NHIDCL, said a sudden cracking sound late on Friday had “created a panic situation in the tunnel” and led to fears the roof could cave in. Operations were then halted amid the possibility of “further collapse”, NHIDCL said. Rescuers have been using radios to communice with the trapped men. Food, water, oxygen and medicine have also been sent via a 15cm (6in)-wide pipe. “We keep sending word in, inquiring about their health,” Mohammed Rizwan, part of the rescue team, told the Times of India. “But all of them have just one question: ‘When will you bring us out?’” On Saturday, the key work of drilling through the tonnes of earth and rock to reach the men was still on hold, Ruhela said. “Except drilling, other necessary work is going on,” Ruhela said. Rescuers said on Friday that they had drilled less than halfway to where the men were trapped. After the first drill broke down, a replacement was flown in on Wednesday on a C-130 Hercules military plane, but that drill then hit a boulder. “The machine was not able to push further as the machine was getting lifted and the bearings of the machine were damaged,” NHIDCL said. The Indian air force said on Friday that a C-17 Globemaster aircraft had flown in almost 22 tonnes of critical equipment for the rescue effort. The NHIDCL’s director, Anshu Manish Khalkho, has warned that the rescue operation “may take time”. Engineers are trying to drive a steel pipe about 90cm wide through the debris – wide enough for the trapped men to squeeze through. Some relatives of those stuck in the tunnel said they had spoken briefly to their trapped loved ones. Vikram Singh was in tears after speaking to his 25-year-old brother, Pushkar, the Times of India reported. Puskhar, who was exhausted, weak and desperate, asked him to tell their mother he was well. “Don’t tell Ma that I am one of those stuck here,” Pushkar told his brother, the paper reported. “Our mother will be worried if you tell her the truth.”