Indian rescuers begin rescuing 41 men trapped in Himalayan tunnel

Indian rescuers begin rescuing 41 men trapped in Himalayan tunnel – Portal India

SILKYARA, India, Nov 28 (Portal) – Indian rescuers on Tuesday extracted the first of 41 construction workers trapped for 17 days in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas after hours of drilling through rock, concrete and earthen debris had to reach them. officials said.

The evacuation of the men to safety began more than six hours after rescuers broke through to end an ordeal that began early on November 12 when the tunnel collapsed.

“The first one is out,” a rescue official told reporters outside the 4.5-kilometer-long tunnel in the northern state of Uttarakhand.

Ambulances with flashing lights lined up at the mouth of the tunnel to transport workers to a hospital about 30 km away.

The men received food, water, light, oxygen and medicine via a pipe, but attempts to dig a tunnel with powerful drills to rescue them failed due to a series of obstacles.

The tunnel is part of the $1.5 billion Char Dham highway, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most ambitious projects, which aims to connect four Hindu pilgrimage sites via an 890 km road network.

Authorities have not said what caused the collapse, but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.

Writing by YP Rajesh; Editing by Angus MacSwan

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