"Will Go Home, Rest For 2 Months": Rescued Worker Narrates 17-Day Ordeal

"We had no contact from the outside world for 18 hours," Akhilesh Singh, who was trapped in the tunnel, tells NDTV.

As rescuers brought out 41 workers trapped in an Uttarakhand tunnel for 17 days yesterday evening, they were greeted with wild cheers and flower garlands. With beaming smiles, the rescued men were welcomed as heroes after being hauled through 57 metres of steel pipe on stretchers specially fitted with wheels, where they were greeted by state officials before embracing their families.

Narrating the ordeal, one of the workers says that he was on his way home when the tunnel suddenly collapsed.

"The tunnel collapsed in front of me and there was a loud sound after which my ears went numb," Akhilesh Singh, who was trapped in the tunnel, tells NDTV.