National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel along with other rescue operatives gather at the entrance of the under construction Silkyara during a rescue operation for trapped workers after a section of the tunnel collapsed, in the Uttarkashi district of India's Uttarakhand state on November 28, 2023. - Indian rescuers have safely brought out all 41 workers from a collapsed Himalayan road tunnel after a marathon 17-day engineering operation to free them, a minister said on November 28. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)
The world, at the moment, seems a dark and bleak place. Thousands are being slaughtered daily in wars. Natural disasters and poverty accentuate the sense of hopelessness which many feel.
Yet, at the end of the literal and figurative tunnel of despair, the Indian road tunnel collapse and rescue is a light of hope and triumph of the human spirit.
After 17 days trapped under tons of rock in the Himalaya mountains, 41 workers were finally freed late on Tuesday.
One of them said “every moment felt that death was standing nearby”, while another said “the world is again beautiful for us”.
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The rescue was a tribute to the determination of teams of construction engineers and workers battling against repeated setbacks, including falling debris and the breakdown of multiple drilling machines.
The rescued men, all poor migrant workers, were never once abandoned by the authorities in a country where labour and life – especially for the poverty-stricken – can often be cheap.
A situation like this should make all of us think about the people who do the dangerous, dirty work for society for little financial reward.
They deserve the safest working conditions possible.
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