All 41 men trapped underground in a tunnel in Uttarakhand's Silkyara were rescued late Tuesday, beginning the home stretch of a frantic 17-day multi-agency op that relied, in the last stages, on the banned manual "rat-hole"-mining technique employed after high-tech machines, or augers, failed to drill through the nearly 60 meters of rock that have threatened to bury the workers.

Prior to the first evacuation, the personnel from the SDRF and NDRF had entered the tunnel with stretchers. It took some time for the extraction process to finish so that every worker could acclimatize to the current surface conditions, which include a temperature of about 14 degrees Celsius.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Union Minister VK Singh were present to welcome the workers. They welcomed the workers as National Disaster Response Force men brought them out through a steel chute that lined a 60-meter escape passage.

As the workers stuck in the Silkyara tunnel were being evacuated, celebrations sprang up as people distributed sweets outside the tunnel. CM Dhami also announced an aid of Rs 1 lakh each for all 41 rescued workers.

All evacuated workers were taken to the Chinyalisaur Hospital. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the 41 workers evacuated from the Silkyara tunnel will be kept under medical supervision. "They (workers) all have come out from a different environment and condition so we will do as per the advice of the doctors. First, they will be kept under medical supervision and their monitoring will be done. No one is critical," he said.

Elaborate preparations were made for the rescue. An Air Force Chinook chopper was standing by for emergencies and a green corridor was created to transfer the workers to the hospital in Chinyalisaur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in praising the courage and patience of the trapped workers and their families and the bravery and determination of the rescue personnel. 

"The success of the rescue operation of our labourer brothers in Uttarkashi is making everyone emotional. I want to say to those trapped in the tunnel that your courage and patience are inspiring everyone. I wish you all well and good health. It is a matter of great satisfaction that after a long wait, our friends will now meet their loved ones. The patience and courage these families have shown in this challenging time cannot be appreciated enough," the PM wrote on X.

A portion of the tunnel had caved in on November 12, with the debris falling in the 60-metre stretch on the Silkyara side of the tunnel, thereby trapping 41 labourers inside the under-construction structure.

Image source: ANI