Rescuers Reach Trapped Men in Himalayan Tunnel

New Delhi — Rescuers finally reached 41 men trapped in a Himalayan highway tunnel in northern India Tuesday after 17 days. The breakthrough, after a series of failed attempts, was achieved by a team of "rat miners" digging manually through the huge mound of debris that filled a section of the tunnel during a partial collapse on Nov. 12.

The rat-hole miners, experts in a traditional method of coal mining still used widely in India, were called in only on Monday after more than two weeks of failed attempts to reach the stranded workers using heavy machinery.

The team of 24 rat miners started work Monday to drill through the debris pile manually and create a narrow passageway to the trapped men.

Ambulances and a medical team were waiting outside the tunnel entrance Tuesday afternoon for the workers to come out. The men were expected to be taken immediately for medical checks after their exit from the tunnel.

Rescuers had been attempting to drill through the debris in the collapsed tunnel using a large auger machine after the collapse, which is believed to have been triggered by a landslide in the unstable Himalayan region. However, the machine became stuck in the rubble on Friday and had to be broken down and removed. This operation itself took several days.

A total of 41 men have been trapped in the under-construction highway tunnel in the Silkyara district of Uttarakhand state, India, since the collapse. Fortunately, on the first day of the collapse, rescuers managed to drill a small pipe into the tunnel, allowing them to provide the workers with enough oxygen, food, and medicine.

Last week, the rescuers were able to force a slightly wider pipe through the rubble. This breakthrough allowed them to send hot meals and use a medical endoscopic camera to provide a first look at the trapped men inside.