Indian rescuers set to pull 41 trapped workers out to safety after 17 days

Members of the team from India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) preparing to enter a tunnel to rescue trapped workers, after the tunnel collapsed, in Uttarkashi in the northern state of Uttarakhand of India on Tuesday –Reuters photo

Indian rescuers drilled through rocks and debris on Tuesday to reach 41 workers trapped for 17 days in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas, and were set to pull them out one by one to safety, officials said.

The men, low-wage workers from India's poorest states, have been stuck in the 4.5 km (3 mile) tunnel in Uttarakhand state since it collapsed on Nov 12.

The process of pulling them out, one at a time on wheeled stretchers through a pipe 90 cm (3 feet) wide, would take a couple of hours, reports Reuters.

The evacuation pipe has to be pushed through and debris cleared before rescue workers can crawl through and begin getting the men out, they said.

Dozens of rescue workers with ropes and ladders were lined up outside the tunnel and ambulances began arriving to take the 41 men to a hospital about 30 km away.

The tunnel is part of the $1.5 billion Char Dham highway, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's most ambitious projects, aimed at connecting four Hindu pilgrimage sites through an 890- km network of roads.

Authorities have not said what caused the cave-in but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.