"Your Prayers Reached To God": Uttarakhand Chief Minister On Tunnel Rescue

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday said that the people in India and across the world were praying to the god for the success in the rescue operation in Uttarkashi's Silkyara tunnel where 41 workers got trapped adding that the rescuers received God's blessings to carry out the successful operation.

Chief Minister Dhami laid the foundation stone of various development schemes in Haldwani and participated in other organized programs.

Addressing a public event, Chief Minister Dhami said," People of the state, the entire country and across the world were praying to the god. Their prayers worked. Your prayers reached to the god and then it blessed the rescuers to carry out a successful operation. In 17 days, the tunnel was opened. It was a very difficult time."

Earlier today, workers who were rescued from the Silkyara Tunnel have been discharged from the hospital today and are leaving for their home states.

Officials from various states have reached here to facilitate their return to their home states.

All 41 trapped workers were brought out safely from the under-construction Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi on Tuesday, bringing to an end an ordeal that spanned over two weeks.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand Nodal Officer Bhuvnesh informed that workers of Jharkhand will be first taken to Delhi and they will stay at Jharkhand Bhawan in the national capital before proceeding further to their native state.

"We are taking all of them through an aeroplane. There are 15 workers. First, we will go to Delhi and then to Ranchi. We all have our stay in Jharkhand Bhawan. All the workers are doing well. AIIMS authorities have handed over the workers to us," he said.

The workers who were rescued from the Silkyara tunnel were brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh, for further medical examination on Wednesday.

On November 12, a section of the tunnel between 205 and 260 metres from the Silkyara side collapsed. Workers who were beyond the 260-metre mark were trapped, with their exit blocked.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)