An Indian minister said Tuesday that all 41 workers had been rescued from a collapsed Himalayan road tunnel after a 17-day rescue operation.

A temporary medical camp will be set up inside the tunnel of 13 meters (42.6 feet) width to check the health of the rescued workers.

The 41 trapped laborers in the Silkyara Tunnel Collapse have been successfully rescued, said Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari in a statement. This rescue operation was one of the most significant in recent years, thanks to a well-coordinated effort by multiple agencies."

Sabah Ahmad's wife Musarrat Jahan, who phoned AFP by phone, said: "We are extremely happy, no words can describe our feelings." “Not only my husband got a new life, we also got a new life. We will never forget it.”

After drilling through the debris earlier on Tuesday, Indian officials announced that rescuers were extracting workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand.

As an example, a drilling machine broke after hitting a metal object, causing a significant amount of delay.

It required almost twice as much dirt and debris to dig a horizontal shaft as it did to dig a vertical shaft on Sunday.