Uttarakhand tunnel rescue op ends, all 41 trapped workers brought out after 17-day ordeal

After several high-tech machines failed, the rescuers relied on the banned manual "rat-hole"-mining technique to drill through the nearly 60 metres of rock that threatened to bury the workers.

All the rescued workers have been taken to the make-shift hospital in Chinyalisaur for medical check-ups and acclimatisation to the temperature outside, which has dropped much over the last two weeks.

Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force, or NDRF, went inside the tunnel to bring out the trapped workers.

The India Air Force (IAF) kept its Chinook helicopter on standby at Chinyalisaur airstrip in Uttarakhand, about 30 km away from the Silkyara tunnel, to airlift workers after their rescue from the tunnel.

The chopper can be used if any rescued workers need urgent medical attention.

According to the doctors, all the workers are in good health.

The labourers, in emergency cases, can be airlifted either from the tunnel site to the Chinyalisaur hospital (a distance of 30 km) or flown to the premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh (a distance of around 160 km).

The first three workers to be rescued were brought out on specially modified stretchers; these were lowered manually down a two-metre-wide pipe inserted into holes drilled into the hillside.

An emergency medical centre has been set up in Chinyalisaur to treat the 41 workers who were trapped underground in the Silkyara tunnel since Nov 12.

Forty-one ambulances are on standby at the site of the tunnel collapse, one for each worker, to bring them to the Chinyalisaur hospital by road.

Local police will organise a 'green corridor' to ensure each ambulance reaches the hospital as quickly as possible.

A makeshift medical centre has also been set up - at the mouth of the collapsed tunnel - to provide first aid and emergency care.

PM Modi lauds rescue teams

Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue operation and said the success of this mission has set an amazing example of humanity and teamwork.

Lauding the effort, PM Modi tweeted: "The success of the rescue operation to evacuate our labourer brothers in Uttarkashi is making everyone emotional. I want to tell my friends who were trapped in the tunnel that your courage and patience are inspiring everyone. I wish you all well and good health."

"It is a matter of great satisfaction that after a long wait these friends of ours will now meet their loved ones. The patience and courage that all these families have shown in this challenging time cannot be appreciated enough."