Watch: How Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami greeted first worker evacuated from tunnel
In the visuals, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was seen hugging and talking to the workers as they huddled outside the tunnel.
The 17-day wait for the 41 workers trapped inside Silkyara tunnel came to end on Tuesday after they were rescued. The first worker was brought out at 7:56 pm and received a rousing welcome by Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
In a video shared by news agency PTI, Dhami was seen congratulating the worker. Union minister VK Singh was also present.
Dhami presented him with a garland and hung it around his neck as rescuers, officials, and relatives cheered. Munna Qureshi, a rat miner hailing from Delhi, was the first rescue personnel to successfully reach the opposite side of the tunnel.
“I removed the last rock. I could see them. Then i went to the other side. I couldn’t They hugged us, lifted us.. We worked continuously in the last 24 hours. I can’t express my happiness. I have done it for my country,” he said. “The respect they (trapped workers) have given us, I can’t forget my whole life,” he told HT.
READ | First video of manual drilling inside collapsed Uttarkashi tunnel to rescue 41 workers released
Before the initial evacuation took place, members of the SDRF and NDRF teams entered the tunnel equipped with stretchers. Along with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami Union Minister VK Singh was also on-site to receive the workers.
The workers got trapped in the tunnel on November 12, as a landslide resulted in the collapse of a section of the 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) tunnel.
The majority of the workers who were trapped were migrant laborers from various parts of the country. Numerous families, representing these workers, have journeyed to the site, where they have been stationed for days, seeking updates on the rescue operation and anticipating a reunion with their loved ones.
(With PTI inputs)