Spanish Tunnellers Rescued from Guadarrama TunnelThirty-four workers have been rescued after being trapped by fire for five hours on 6th August in the Guadarrama railway tunnel under construction on the high speed link from Madrid to Valladolid, near La Granja de San Ildefonso, 80 km north of Madrid. The workers took refuge in an air pocket until rescuers could reach them. No one was injured but some needed respiratory assistance using oxygen masks. They were trapped 850 m from the tunnel entrance after a muck train ferrying them to the construction site caught fire. The incident took place on one of the southbound tunnels drilled by a 9.5 m-diameter Wirth hard rock TBM. The contractors on this drive include ACS, Ví¡³ y Construcciones, FCC, and Ferrovial-Agromá®® Click es/16.It is the second serious incident along the same stretch of line this year. In January, two workers died when two large hoppers filled with gravels collapsed on top of them. Read E-News Weekly 6/2003. Also, early June, a ground collapse occurred in the Mount Valsaí® near Segovia.The two Guadarrama tunnels are the most complex civil engineering project under way in Spain and one of the biggest schemes in the world. Completion is programmed for 2005 and commissioning for 2007. To view a video clip, click here. 33/03.