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Rescue work at the Silkyara Tunnel in the Indian state of Uttarakhand

Photo: Ap / dpa

In India, emergency services have freed the first of the 41 workers from a collapsed highway tunnel after more than two weeks. Rescue teams bring them outside on wheeled stretchers through a 90-centimeter-wide pipe that had previously been laboriously drilled through the scree. The men are doing well under the circumstances, said an employee of the disaster control, according to the news agency dpa.

The tunnel had partially collapsed in the early morning of November 12 during the shift change. All construction workers survived the disaster. On several occasions, the authorities had assured that it would not be long before all those trapped were rescued. The workers were supplied with oxygen, water, food and medicine via a pipe.

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bbr/dpa/AFP