Indian rescuers pull out all 41 workers who were trapped in a tunnel for 17 days

UTTARKASHI, India — All 41 building staff who had been trapped in a collapsed mountain tunnel in northern India for greater than two weeks had been pulled out on Tuesday, bringing a cheerful finish to a drawn-out rescue mission that had gripped the nation for days.

Locals, family and authorities officers erupted in pleasure, set off firecrackers and shouted “Bharat Mata ki Jai” — Hindi for “Lengthy reside mom India — as smiling staff started rising from the tunnel entrance. Officers hung floral garlands across the necks of the primary rescued staff as the group cheered.

Nitin Gadkari, the nation’s minister of highway transport and highways, mentioned in a video posted on the social media platform X that he was “fully relieved and blissful” after all the staff had been rescued from the Silkyara Tunnel within the northern Indian city of Uttarkashi following the 17-day ordeal.

“This was a well-coordinated effort by a number of companies, marking one of the crucial important rescue operations in recent times,” Gadkari mentioned.

Nobody was critically injured or killed when the tunnel collapsed early on the morning of Nov. 12. The employees had been ending their shifts and lots of had been possible trying ahead to celebrating Diwali, the pageant of lights, that day.

Since early of their ordeal, the employees had been supplied with meals, water and oxygen by way of pipes, they usually emerged wholesome, officers mentioned. They had been extracted one after the other on a wheeled stretcher that was pulled by way of a roughly meter-wide (yard-wide) tunnel of welded pipes that crews had pushed by way of the collapsed filth and rocks.

Earlier than rising to the cameras and crowds and being whisked away in ambulances, every employee was given a checkup at a makeshift medical camp within the tunnel entrance.

Devender, a rescuer who solely gave his first title, advised the New Delhi Tv channel that “the trapped staff had been overjoyed after they noticed us within the tunnel. Some rushed towards me and hugged me.”

The huge rescue mission had many on edge. The employees obtained trapped on Nov. 12, when a landslide triggered a portion of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel they had been constructing in Uttarakhand state to break down about 200 meters (650 toes) from the doorway.

They survived on meals and oxygen provided by way of slim metal pipes.

Kirti Panwar, a state authorities spokesperson, mentioned a few dozen males had labored in a single day to manually dig by way of rocks and particles, taking turns to drill utilizing hand-held drilling instruments and clearing out the muck in what he mentioned was the ultimate stretch of the rescue operation.

Rescuers resorted to guide digging after the drilling machine broke down on Friday whereas drilling horizontally from the entrance due to the mountainous terrain of Uttarakhand. The machine bored by way of about 47 meters (almost 154 toes) out of roughly the 57-60 meters (almost 187-196 toes) wanted, earlier than rescuers began to work by hand to create a passageway to evacuate the trapped staff.

By Tuesday, they’d drilled by way of greater than 58 meters (190 toes). As nightfall fell, households of these trapped underground gathered close to the location of the accident, anxiously ready to see their family members emerge from the tunnel.

Amongst them was Jaimal Singh who mentioned he was hopeful he would quickly see his brother Gabbar Singh, who’s trapped inside. “Even nature seems to be cheerful at the moment … the climate is sweet. Let’s hope this ends quickly,” he advised the Press Belief of India information company.

Rescue groups had inserted pipes into dug-out areas and welded them collectively so the employees may very well be introduced out on wheeled stretchers. On Sunday, rescuers additionally started to create a vertical channel with a newly changed drilling machine as a contingency plan.

What started as a rescue mission anticipated to take a couple of days has changed into weeks, and officers have been hesitant to present a timeline for when it may be accomplished.

“I simply really feel good. The drilling on high of the mountain is coming alongside completely, within the tunnel, it’s coming alongside very properly. I’ve by no means mentioned ‘I really feel good’ earlier than,” Arnold Dix, a global tunneling skilled who helps with the rescue, advised reporters on the web site earlier on Tuesday.

A lot of the trapped staff are migrant laborers from throughout the nation. Lots of their households have traveled to the situation, the place they’ve camped out for days to get updates on the rescue effort and in hopes of seeing their family quickly.

Because the operation unfolded, the trapped staff had been provided with scorching meals by way of a 6-inch (15-centimeter) pipe after days of surviving solely on dry meals despatched by way of a narrower pipe. They had been getting oxygen by way of a separate pipe, and greater than a dozen medical doctors, together with psychiatrists, had been on the web site, monitoring their well being.

The tunnel the employees had been constructing was designed as a part of the Chardham all-weather highway, which is able to join numerous Hindu pilgrimage websites. Some consultants say the mission, a flagship initiative of the federal authorities, will exacerbate fragile situations within the higher Himalayas, the place a number of cities are constructed atop landslide particles.

Giant numbers of pilgrims and vacationers go to Uttarakhand’s many Hindu temples, with the quantity rising over time due to the continued building of buildings and roadways.