All 41 workmen saved from collapsing tunnel in India after 17-day battle

A group of 41 workers were greeted with cheers as they came out from a collapsed tunnel under the Himalayas. It was the end of a risky and amazing rescue mission that took weeks to drill through rocks and debris.

The men were stuck for 17 days while teams drilled a way out of the mountain. They faced problems but eventually drilled the last few meters by hand.

Video from the scene showed Pushkar Singh Dhami, the leader of Uttarakhand state, meeting with the workers as they came out of the tunnel. Everyone seemed very happy.

Dhami said at a press conference on Tuesday night that all 41 workers are healthy.

Because they have grown up in a different place, we will do what the doctor recommends. They will be watched closely at the beginning. “No one is being harsh or negative,” Dhami said.

They don’t have any signs of being weak or having a fever, they are all healthy. They could have used stretchers to come out, but they chose to crawl out by themselves,” he said. Then he thanked the workers, engineers, and government departments who helped with the rescue.

The workers who were saved will get a check for 100,000 rupees (about $1,200) each, Dhami said.

Dhami said we will also ask the company if the 41 workers can go home and be with their family for 15 days, 20 days, or 1 month.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the successful rescue is making everyone feel emotional. He said this in a statement on X.

“I want to tell the men stuck in the tunnel that your courage and patience are inspiring everyone,” he wrote.

I also praise the determination of everyone involved in this rescue. Their courage and persistence have given our hardworking brothers a new chance at life. Modi said that everyone working on this mission has shown a great example of people helping each other and working together.

The men were stuck since November 12 when the tunnel they were building in India’s Uttarakhand state collapsed, blocking their only way out with a lot of rocks, concrete, and metal.

The first workers were taken out after many painful problems. The machines used to dig through the rubble broke down, so the workers had to dig by hand and use more dangerous methods to rescue them.

The engineers tried using a drill to clear the debris, but it broke down. They had to stop using it and instead, dig by hand to rescue the trapped men.

At the same time, rescuers were drilling down through the unstable mountain to reach the trapped men in case the first way didn’t work. However, the first plan ended up being successful.

After finishing drilling, the rescuers put a big pipe through the exit shaft to bring the men to safety.

The workers, who came from poor states in India, are getting food, water, and oxygen through a long pipe. The authorities say they are still healthy.

The doctors at the location have been talking to the men inside regularly, giving them advice on how to stay positive and calm. Their families have been meeting at the end of the tunnel every day to pray for their loved ones to come back safely.

The tunnel is a part of a big project called Modi’s Char Dham Highway. It’s supposed to upgrade the road, but some people think it’s a bad idea. The country wants to make its roads and transportation better so that people can easily get to important Hindu pilgrimage sites.

Environmentalists are upset about the project because they think it might harm the Himalayan region, where many people are already feeling the effects of the climate crisis.

A group of experts told India’s highest court that building highways will cause more landslides and soil erosion in a fragile environment, as stated in a 2020 court report.

Officials are looking into why the tunnel collapsed and they will probably check if drilling on the mountain had something to do with it. CNN has reached out to the Indian government’s department for environment and climate change.

A tunnel in India collapsed recently, adding to a list of construction accidents in the country. India has been working hard to improve its infrastructure and transportation system, spending a lot of money to do so.

In August, a lot of workers died when a bridge being built fell down in the northeastern state of Mizoram. In June, a big bridge being built over the River Ganges in Bihar collapsed for the second time in a year. People are wondering if it was built well.