Rescued workers from the collapsed Tunnel being welcomed as they arrive at the AIIMS, in Rishikesh
The 41 men rescued from a collapsed tunnel in Uttarakhand are undergoing health checkups at AIIMS, Rishikesh, and could be sent back home today. The hospital said that the vitals of all the workers are normal and they have just undergone preliminary investigations.
"They are quite normal, I won't even call them patients. They are feeling quite normal, they are behaving very normally. Their blood pressure, vitals, oxygenation - everything is normal. We have done some basic preliminary investigations just to look at their electrolytes and their other blood parameters. The report will be coming soon and we will also be doing their ECG, just to see if there is any effect on the heart," said Professor Meenu Singh, executive director and CEO, of AIIMS-Rishikesh.
"These are very basic investigations which we will have. We will do a basic psychological assessment also so that we can follow it up later - whether this incident is having any effect on them on a long-term basis," Ms Singh added.
She said that they are not sick and a decision on sending them home will be taken today.
The 41 workers were rescued from the tunnel on Tuesday after almost 17 days of rescue operations conducted by multiple agencies of Central and state governments.
National and disaster relief forces, the Indian Army, police, and several other agencies worked round-the-clock to free the men trapped beneath the collapsed Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand. Another key figure in the operation was tunnel expert Arold Dix who advised the government and agencies during the rescue.
The "softly, softly" approach to drilling escape holes, and gauging the auger's impact on the already fragile and "still moving" mountainside, were key to the operation, Mr Dix told NDTV.