'Joy, gratitude': Rescued 41 set for a new chapter

Relieved, joyous, and overwhelmingly hopeful.

- Amit Bathla

Forty-one workers who were buried under a mountain in Uttarakhand and pulled out after 17 harrowing hours in a daring rescue expressed their gratitude to the country on Wednesday, saluted the grit of the humble “rat-hole miners” who ground through a sheer wall of rock, mud and debris, and voiced the glee that coursed through them at the first sight of their loved ones.

The men – whose 17-day-long torment galvanised a nation in prayer and concern – spent the night at a special health facility set up at Chinyalisaur before being airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh for more rigorous checks. But apart from recounting the anxious 422 hours they spent trapped in the dark depths of the Himalayas, the men appeared in remarkably high spirits, talking about the bonds they forged in adversity and expressing hope about the future – their cheer buoying the collective mood of the country.

“When we were being taken out on a stretcher through the rescue pipes, it felt like we were passing a tunnel inside a tunnel. After three minutes in the pipe, I felt like I had got a new life,” said rescued worker Sabah Ahmad.