Indian rescuers pull out all 41 workers trapped in collapsed tunnel for 17 days

India’s transportation minister says all 41 construction workers who were trapped in a collapsed mountain tunnel in the country’s north for more than two weeks have been rescued.

Nitin Gadkari, the minister of road transport and highways, said on X he was “completely relieved and happy” after all were rescued from the Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi after an ordeal that lasted 17 days.

“I am very happy that all the 41 trapped workers have come out and their lives have been saved,” he said in a video message posted on X. Gadkari added that “this was a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies, marking one of the most significant rescue operations in recent years.”

Before this rescue, Kirti Panwar, a state government spokesperson, said about a dozen men had worked overnight to manually dig through rocks and debris, taking turns to drill using hand-held tools and clearing out the muck as they approach what is hoped to be the final stretch of the rescue operation.

Rescuers resorted to manual digging after the drilling machine broke down irreparably on Friday while drilling horizontally from the front because of the mountainous terrain of Uttarakhand state where the tunnel collapsed.  

Pipes inserted into dug-out areas

Rescue teams have inserted pipes into dug-out areas and welded them together so the workers could be brought out on wheeled stretchers.

The workers have been trapped since 12 November when a landslide caused a portion of the 4.5-kilometre tunnel they were building to collapse about 200 metres from the entrance.

Most of them are migrant labourers from across the country. Many of their families have travelled to the location, where they have camped out for days as they waited for updates on the rescue effort. 

Authorities supplied the trapped workers with hot meals through a 15-centimetre pipe after days of surviving only on dry food sent through a narrower pipe. They are getting oxygen through a separate pipe, and more than a dozen doctors, including psychiatrists, have been at the site monitoring their health.