Indian Rescuers Pull Out All 41 Workers Who Were Trapped In A Tunnel For 17 Days

UTKASHI, India — All 41 construction workers who had been trapped for more than two weeks in a collapsed mountain tunnel in northern India were rescued on Tuesday, bringing a joyous finish to a drawn-out rescue attempt that had captivated the country for days.

As joyful workers emerged from the tunnel entrance, locals, families, and government officials exploded joyfully, lit off firecrackers, and screamed “Bharat Mata ki Jai” — Hindi for “Long live mother India.” As the audience applauded, officials wrapped floral garlands around the necks of the first rescued workers.

Nitin Gadkari, India’s road transport and highways minister, said in a video posted on the social media platform X that he was “completely relieved and happy” that all of the workers had been rescued from the Silkyara Tunnel in the northern Indian town of Uttarkashi after a 17-day ordeal.

Indian Rescuers Pull Out All 41 Workers Who Were Trapped In A Tunnel For 17 Days

Rescuers use hand-held drills to release 41 workers who had been trapped in an Indian road tunnel for more than two weeks.
“This was a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies, marking one of the most significant rescue operations in recent years,” Gadkari said.

When the tunnel collapsed early on Nov. 12, no one was seriously injured or killed. Workers were wrapping up their shifts, and many were probably looking forward to Diwali, the festival of lights, that day.

According to officials, the workers were given food, drink, and oxygen through pipes from the start of their experience, and they survived. They were removed one at a time on a wheeled stretcher pulled through an approximately meter-wide (yard-wide) tunnel of welded pipes driven through the collapsing earth and boulders by personnel.

Each worker was given a checkup at a temporary medical camp in the tunnel entrance before emerging to the cameras and crowds and being carried away in ambulances.

According to Devender, a rescuer who only supplied his first name, “the trapped workers were overjoyed when they spotted us in the tunnel.” Some people ran up to me and hugged me.”

Indian Rescuers Pull Out All 41 Workers Who Were Trapped In A Tunnel For 17 Days

Many people were worried about the enormous rescue mission. On Nov. 12, a landslide forced a piece of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel they were building in Uttarakhand state to collapse about 200 meters (650 feet) from the entrance, trapping the workers.

They thrived on food and oxygen delivered via narrow steel pipes.

According to Kirti Panwar, a state government spokesperson, roughly a dozen men labored overnight to manually dig through boulders and rubble, taking turns drilling with hand-held drilling tools and clearing out the muck in what he called the rescue operation’s final stretch.

Because of Uttarakhand’s rugged topography, rescuers had to manually dig after the drilling machine broke down on Friday while drilling horizontally from the front. The equipment bored through approximately 47 meters (almost 154 feet) of the required 57-60 meters (nearly 187-196 feet) before rescuers began to work by hand to establish a route to release the trapped personnel.

Indian Rescuers Pull Out All 41 Workers Who Were Trapped In A Tunnel For 17 Days

They had dug more than 58 meters (190 feet) by Tuesday. As the sun set, families of those trapped beneath gathered around the accident scene, hoping to see their loved ones emerge from the tunnel.

Jaimal Singh, one of them, expressed hope that he would soon meet his brother Gabbar Singh, who is confined inside. “Even nature appears cheerful today… the weather is pleasant.” “Let us hope this is the last of it,” he told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Rescue teams had inserted and welded pipes into dug-out regions so workers could be taken out on wheeled stretchers. On Sunday, rescuers started digging a vertical canal with a newly replaced drilling machine as a backup plan.

What began as a few-day rescue attempt has grown into weeks, and officials have yet to provide an estimated completion date.

“I just feel great. The drilling on top of the mountain is doing great and going great in the tunnel. “I’ve never said ‘I feel good’ before,” Arnold Dix, an international tunneling expert assisting with the rescue, told reporters earlier on Tuesday at the site.

The majority of those trapped are migrant workers from throughout the country. Many of their families have traveled to the spot, where they have been camped out for days, hoping to receive updates on the rescue effort and see their relatives soon.

Indian Rescuers Pull Out All 41 Workers Who Were Trapped In A Tunnel For 17 Days

After days of surviving exclusively on dry food transported via a narrower channel, the trapped workers were given hot meals through a 6-inch (15-centimeter) pipe as the operation progressed. They were receiving oxygen via a separate pipe, and more than a dozen doctors, including psychiatrists, were on hand to monitor their condition.

The tunnel was part of the Chardham all-weather route, connecting several Hindu pilgrimage sites. Some experts believe the federal government flagship program project may exacerbate delicate conditions in the high Himalayas, where several cities are constructed on avalanche debris.

SOURCE – (AP)