All 41 construction workers trapped in a tunnel under construction in the Uttarakhand State of India have been rescued.
Cameras, politicians, and flower garlands were awaiting them when they finally emerged to the cheers of an awaiting crowd.
Like the Chilean miners, or the Thai cavers, there’s something about workmen trapped underground that captures the world’s attention, and it happened again when a November 12th landslide caused a portion of the 2.2-mile tunnel to collapse, blocking a section of the path as long as 2 football fields to the exit.
They survived on food and oxygen sent in through narrow steel pipes, while more than a dozen physicians were monitoring their health through various sensors.
“This was a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies, marking one of the most significant rescue operations in recent years,” said Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport and highways, on X.
The workers escaped the tunnel via narrow steel pipes that had been pushed into the debris through hand-drilled tunnels.
Last Friday, the drilling machine used to create the path for the pipes broke, and from then until Tuesday, teams worked on through the night in shifts using hand drills. By Tuesday they had drilled through over 100 feet of rubble.
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One rescuer told the New Delhi Television that the workers rushed over and hugged him when he came through the pipes, and after they all got out, a small tent community of the workers’ families and loved ones were there to greet them.
The tunnel was being built to connect various Hindu pilgrimage sites across the Himalayas.
Chief Minister Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the government will provide financial assistance of one lakh rupees, (about $1,200) to all the workers trapped in the tunnel. They have been admitted to a hospital, the bills for which will also be taken on by the local government.
WATCH the moment when the workers finally emerge…
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