India tunnel collapse: All workers rescued after group trapped for more than two weeks in Uttarakhand

All 41 workers have been rescued from a collapsed tunnel in India after being trapped for more than two weeks.

“I am completely happy and relieved,” India’s highways minister, Nitin Gadkari, said as he praised rescue workers for their efforts.

A crowd of locals shouted slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai,” or “Long live mother India,” and set off firecrackers as the trapped workers emerged from the collapsed tunnel in India’s Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

Follow latest: Reaction as workers rescued from tunnel in India

Pushkar Singh Dhami, the top elected official in the state, hung a garland of marigold flowers around the neck of the first worker as he emerged after 17 days.

‘An amazing example of humanity and teamwork’

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, praised the “courage and patience” of the workers and their families, as well as those involved in the rescue.

“It is a matter of great satisfaction that after a long wait, these friends of ours will now meet their loved ones,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“I also salute the spirit of all the people associated with this rescue operation. Everyone involved in this mission has set an amazing example of humanity and teamwork.”

India’s president, Droupadi Murmu, said she felt “relieved and happy” at the news.

“The nation salutes their resilience and remains grateful to them for building critical infrastructure, even at great personal risk, far away from their homes,” she wrote in a post on X.

“I congratulate the teams and all experts who have acted with incredible grit and determination to perform one of the most difficult rescue missions in history.”

Ambulances were lined up at the mouth of the tunnel to take the men to a hospital about 19 miles (30km) away for check-ups.

Wakil Hassan, a rescue team leader, described the condition of the workers as “first-class and absolutely fine… just
like yours or mine”.

How the rescue operation played out

The labourers became stuck after a highway tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand collapsed earlier this month.

The tunnel is part of the £1.2bn Char Dham highway, being built to connect four Hindu pilgrimage sites through a 500-mile network of roads.

So-called rat miners were brought in to drill through rocks and gravel by hand after a large drilling machine broke down.

Once the men had been reached, three teams of four rescuers were sent in to help pull out the workers on wheeled stretchers through a 3-foot-wide steel pipe which rescuers had pushed through dirt and rocks.

The men had been receiving food, water, light, oxygen and medicines through a smaller pipe, which was installed to provide supplies as they awaited rescue.

‘Workers likely to develop PTSD’

While trapped, the workers had 2km of space within the tunnel to walk around in and were encouraged to talk to each other, tell stories, do yoga, take light exercise and play board games sent into them.

However, a senior mental health doctor said some of the men were likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from their ordeal.

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“All 41 would experience some post-traumatic symptoms like insomnia, recurrent bad dreams, recurrent reliving of the tunnel collapse, anxiety,” said Dr Dinakaran Damodharan from the state-run National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences.

“Not everyone will have the disorder, but most will suffer from these symptoms for, say, three to six months.”

Dr Damodharan said they should be checked for at least a year and may have enduring changes to their personality.

While authorities have not said what caused the collapse, there have previously been landslides, earthquakes and floods in the area.