A picture of one of the workers, who was rescued from a collapsed tunnel after 17 days, being kissed by his father has won many hearts in India.
Manjit Chaudhary was among 41 workers who were trapped in the tunnel since 12 November after a landslide.
Mr Chaudhary, 50, who goes by only one name, had travelled 600km (372 miles) from his village in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, to be closer to his son. On Tuesday, he was waiting outside as rescuers pulled out his son.
The workers got trapped in the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand state while they were working on constructing it. A thick pile of debris – full of rocks and metal objects – blocked their exit way, preventing them from leaving the tunnel.
Rescue officials soon established contact with the men and began supplying them with food, oxygen and water. However, it took a little over two weeks to pull out the men from the tunnel. The rescue operation was a complicated one, and involved the use of excavators, drilling machines and several personnel.
When the men finally emerged from the tunnel on Tuesday evening, their friends, colleagues and family members were filled with joy. Mr Chaudhary, who had lost one of his sons to a construction accident in Mumbai earlier, was among those waiting outside the tunnel to welcome his son.
As soon as he saw Manjit, he pulled him into an embrace and gave him a kiss. This touching moment was captured by photographers, and has since gone viral online. Mr Chaudhary told the BBC that seeing his son emerge safe and sound from the tunnel was “nothing short of a miracle”.
“My dreams have finally come true. God accepted my prayers and delivered my son to us safely,” he said. Mr Chaudhary also said that he blessed his son with a long life after Manjit touched his feet – a gesture of respect for family elders in India.
“I told him I don't want to see him enter another tunnel, but let's see, he may insist on going back,” he said and added that if it wasn't his son, someone else's son would have to do this risky work. Mr Chaudhary had earlier told the BBC that he'd mortgaged his wife's jewellery to gather funds to travel to Uttarakhand state.
His wife told BBC Hindi that she was devastated when she heard about the accident. On Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights that was celebrated on 12 November this year, she said her house was in darkness as she was worried about Manjit.
“I'd already lost one son to a construction accident, I didn't want to lose another,” she said, adding that the family would now celebrate Diwali since Manjit had been rescued safely. While still trapped in the tunnel, workers could have short conversations with family members on two-way radios that were sent in through pipes inserted into the debris.
“Manjit would start telling me about the tunnel and that would worry me, so he would change the topic to lighten the mood,” his mother said.
— CutC by bbc.com
