Trapped Indian workers freed after 17 days

The Star

Indian rescuers on Tuesday (Nov 28) pulled out all 41 construction workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas for 17 days, hours after drilling through the debris of rock, concrete and earth to reach them, officials said.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 After being stuck for 17 days underground inside a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas,

00:06 41 construction workers were pulled to safety Tuesday.

00:10 The men, low-wage workers from some of India's poorest states, were given a traditional welcome,

00:19 greeted by government officials and garlanded with marigold flowers.

00:24 The evacuation began more than six hours after rescuers broke through debris in the tunnel,

00:29 which caved in on November 12.

00:32 The men were pulled out on wheeled stretchers through a three-foot-wide steel pipe.

00:36 The entire process was completed in about an hour.

00:40 "Their health is absolutely fine," said rescue team leader Waqeel Hassan.

00:46 Some walked out smiling before being brought to the hospital by ambulance.

00:51 While underground, they were receiving food, water, light, oxygen and medicines through a pipe.

00:57 Rescue efforts hit snags along the way as teams worked to build a tunnel with high-powered drilling machines.

01:03 As the machines failed with still about 50 feet to go, government agencies turned to so-called "rat miners,"

01:09 a group of people skilled at burrowing in tight spaces.

01:13 They drilled through the rock and gravel by hand from inside the evacuation pipe.

01:18 The tunnel is part of a $1.5 billion highway connecting four Hindu pilgrimage sites

01:23 through over a 500-mile network of roads.

01:27 Authorities have not said what caused the cave-in,

01:31 though the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.

01:36 For more UN videos visit: www.un.org/webcast

01:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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