Silkyara tunnel survivors discharged from AIIMS Rishikesh, some say will return to work after leave

The men, all construction workers hailing from some of India's poorest states, were trapped in the under-construction tunnel in Uttarakhand state for 17 days before they were pulled out on Tuesday.

Lucknow: All the 41 labourers, who were rescued from the Silkyara tunnel on Tuesday and were admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Rishikesh on Wednesday for their precautionary medical check-ups, were discharged on Thursday after being found fit and were likely to leave for their respective states later in the evening.

According to the doctors, medical tests of the labourers did not reveal any abnormality and they were fully fit.

''All the labourers are physically normal and medically fit...their blood report, X-ray and ECG are normal and they have been allowed to go home,'' a senior AIIMS official said in Rishikesh.

He said that the labourers had been advised to go for another medical check up at the nearest hospital after two weeks.

Officials of the home states of the labourers had already reached Rishikesh to coordinate and help them in reaching their homes. The Uttarakhand government also said that it would bear the travel expenses of the labourers.

Some of the labourers, who spent 16 days inside the tunnel, said that they would return to work after spending some time with their family members. A few others, however, said that they were undecided on whether to report back to duty after leave.

The labourers, who had been trapped inside the tunnel in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand after a portion of the same collapsed on the morning of November 12, were brought to AIIMS Rishikesh from the primary health centre at Chinyalisour, where they were admitted immediately after being brought out.

As many as 41 labourers from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Assam were trapped after a portion of the tunnel caved in on November 12. They were brought out of the tunnel on Tuesday.

The tunnel, which was 4.5 kilometres long was being constructed from Silkyara to Dandalgaon on the Yamunotri National Highway under the Char Dham Road project. The tunnel would reduce the distance from Uttarkashi to Yamunotri by around 26 kilometres.