All 41 workers rescued from collapsed tunnel in India after 17-day ordeal

Rescuers in northern India have successfully removed all 41 workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel under the Himalayas, the climax of a 17-day rescue operation to drill through rock and debris.

Cheers greeted a group of 41 workers as they were successfully removed from a collapsed tunnel under the Himalayas on Tuesday, the climax of a 17-day rescue operation to drill through rock and debris.

It took weeks to bore an escape route for the workers through the mountain, with the last two meters drilled by hand, before the rescued men eventually emerged.

Video footage from the scene showed Pushkar Singh Dhami, chief minister of Uttarakhand state meeting the workers, who appeared to be in good health, as they emerged from the tunnel amid jubilant scenes.

The men had been trapped since November 12 when the part of tunnel they were helping to construct in India’s northern Uttarakhand state gave way, blocking their only exit with more than 60 meters (200 feet) of broken rock, concrete and twisted metal.

The first workers were removed following a series of agonizing setbacks, during which rescue efforts were halted when the heavy machinery used to drill through the debris broke down, forcing workers to partially dig by hand and adopt other riskier methods to bring them to safety.

Engineers had previously attempted to excavate the debris in the exit shaft using heavy machinery, but were forced to abandon efforts late on Friday after the powerful US-made drill they were using broke down just meters from the trapped men.

Rescuers were also simultaneously drilling downward through the unstable mountain terrain as a back up way to reach the trapped men. But in the end the initial plan proved successful.