INDIA:
Indian rescuers on Tuesday pulled out all 41 construction workers trapped for 17 days inside a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas, hours after drilling through rubble of rock, concrete and dirt to reach them.
The evacuation of the men – low-wage laborers from some of India’s poorest states – began more than six hours after rescuers broke through debris in the tunnel in Uttarakhand state, which collapsed on November 12.
They were pulled out on wheeled stretchers through a 90 cm (3 ft) wide steel pipe, the whole process being completed in about an hour.
“Their condition is first class and absolutely good… just like yours or mine. There is no tension about their health,” said Wakil Hassan, head of the rescue team.
The first evacuee, a short man wearing a dark gray winter jacket and a yellow hard hat, was bedecked with marigold flowers and welcomed in traditional Indian style into the tunnel by state chief Pushkar Singh Dhami and federal deputy highways minister VK Singh. .
Also read: After machinery fails, ‘rat miners’ to help rescue 41 men stuck in India tunnel
Some left smiling and hugged by Dhami, while others made thanksgiving gestures with clasped hands or sought blessings by touching his feet. Everything was garlanded and also presented with a white cloth stolen by Dhami and Singh.
“I want to tell my friends who were trapped in the tunnel that your courage and patience is an inspiration to all of you,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on social media platform X.
“It is a matter of great satisfaction that after a long wait these friends of ours will now be reunited with their loved ones. The patience and courage shown by all these families during this difficult time cannot be appreciated enough.”
Federal Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari thanked the rescuers and said in a post on X that “a safety check of the tunnel will also be done now”.
Rescue completed by ‘rat miners’
Ambulances lined up with flashing lights at the tunnel mouth took the workers to a hospital about 30 km (18 miles) away.
Locals gathered outside the tunnel burst firecrackers, distributed sweets and shouted slogans hailing Mother India.
The 41 men received food, water, light, oxygen and medicine through a tube, but efforts to dig a tunnel to rescue them with high-powered drilling machines were frustrated by a series of jams.
Government agencies managing the unprecedented crisis on Monday turned to “miner rats” to drill rock and gravel by hand from inside the evacuation pipe that was pushing through the debris after machinery broke down.
Read: Rescuers drill to send more food to trapped Indian tunnel workers
The miners are experts in a primitive, dangerous and controversial method used mainly to enter coal deposits through narrow passages and get their name because they look like rodent mice.
The miners, flown in from central India, worked until Monday night and finally broke through the estimated 60 meters of rock, soil and metal on Tuesday afternoon.
The tunnel is part of the $1.5 billion Char Dham Expressway, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most ambitious projects, which aims to connect four Hindu pilgrimage sites through a 890km road network.
Authorities have not said what caused the cave-in, but the area is prone to landslides, earthquakes and flooding.
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