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After More Than 2 Weeks, Rescue Arrives for Workers Trapped in Indian Tunnel
After repeated mechanical setbacks, the operation turned to trained miners using manual tools to clear the final stretch of debris.
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Rescuers Free 41 Workers Trapped in a Collapsed Indian Tunnel By Axel Boada Rescuers Free 41 Workers Trapped in a Collapsed Indian Tunnel 0:39 The workers were trapped for more than two weeks after a landslide caused part of the tunnel they were building to collapse. CreditCredit...Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Mujib Mashal and Suhasini Raj Nov. 28, 2023 Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox. After a 17-day effort to free dozens of Indian construction workers trapped inside a Himalayan road tunnel, rescuers finally cleared a path through debris on Tuesday and pulled the men out, ending an excruciating wait for the workers and their families. The rescue operation had hit repeated roadblocks, with officials trying multiple ways to reach the 41 stranded men in the northern state of Uttarakhand, including the deployment of miners using hand tools after a drilling machine had failed. Pushkar Singh Dhami, the state’s chief minister, said the rescued workers were sent for health checks before they reunite with their families. The first rescues came close to 8 p.m. local time. While officials had said the process to get them all out could take about three hours from the first rescue, all the men were removed to safety in under an hour. “The workers had decided among themselves that the youngest would exit first, and that the team leaders would leave last,” Mr. Dhami, the state’s chief minister, said at a news conference after all the men were rescued. Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who officials said had been closely monitoring the efforts, thanked the rescue teams for giving the trapped workers “a new life.” “The patience and courage that all these families have shown in this challenging time cannot be appreciated enough,” Mr. Modi said. Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like. Mujib Mashal is the South Asia bureau chief for The Times, helping to lead coverage of India and the diverse region around it, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. More about Mujib Mashal Suhasini Raj has worked for over a decade as an investigative journalist with Indian and international news outlets. Based in the New Delhi bureau, she joined The Times in 2014. More about Suhasini Raj A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 29, 2023, Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: 41 Men Stuck Inside Tunnel Are Rescued After 17 Days . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe Read 85 Comments Share full article 85 Read in app Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Comments 85 After More Than 2 Weeks, Rescue Arrives for Workers Trapped in Indian Tunnel Skip to Comments The comments section is closed. To submit a letter to the editor for publication, write to letters@nytimes.com.
Rescuers Free 41 Workers Trapped in a Collapsed Indian Tunnel
By Axel Boada
The workers were trapped for more than two weeks after a landslide caused part of the tunnel they were building to collapse. CreditCredit...Sajjad Hussain/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By Mujib Mashal and Suhasini Raj
Nov. 28, 2023
Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select. Get it sent to your inbox.
After a 17-day effort to free dozens of Indian construction workers trapped inside a Himalayan road tunnel, rescuers finally cleared a path through debris on Tuesday and pulled the men out, ending an excruciating wait for the workers and their families.
The rescue operation had hit repeated roadblocks, with officials trying multiple ways to reach the 41 stranded men in the northern state of Uttarakhand, including the deployment of miners using hand tools after a drilling machine had failed.
Pushkar Singh Dhami, the state’s chief minister, said the rescued workers were sent for health checks before they reunite with their families. The first rescues came close to 8 p.m. local time. While officials had said the process to get them all out could take about three hours from the first rescue, all the men were removed to safety in under an hour.
“The workers had decided among themselves that the youngest would exit first, and that the team leaders would leave last,” Mr. Dhami, the state’s chief minister, said at a news conference after all the men were rescued.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who officials said had been closely monitoring the efforts, thanked the rescue teams for giving the trapped workers “a new life.”
“The patience and courage that all these families have shown in this challenging time cannot be appreciated enough,” Mr. Modi said.
Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.
Mujib Mashal is the South Asia bureau chief for The Times, helping to lead coverage of India and the diverse region around it, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. More about Mujib Mashal
Suhasini Raj has worked for over a decade as an investigative journalist with Indian and international news outlets. Based in the New Delhi bureau, she joined The Times in 2014. More about Suhasini Raj
A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 29, 2023, Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: 41 Men Stuck Inside Tunnel Are Rescued After 17 Days . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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Comments 85 After More Than 2 Weeks, Rescue Arrives for Workers Trapped in Indian Tunnel Skip to Comments The comments section is closed. To submit a letter to the editor for publication, write to letters@nytimes.com.
