The miners will receive immediate medical attention within the tunnel’s makeshift medical centre before being transferred to a nearby makeshift hospital for further care, said Mr Singh.
For family members like Dhanpati, whose son Ram Sundar was among the trapped workers, the successful rescue has marked an end to 17 days of anguish. “He is my only son, and I am happy he was safely rescued,” said Dhanpati.
In Mirzapur, in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a small crowd gathered nervously at the home of trapped worker Akhilesh Singh to await news. Family members anxiously watched on TV, hoping to catch a glimpse of his face.
On Sunday, rescuers also began to create a vertical channel with a newly replaced drilling machine as a contingency plan. An attempt to break through with heavy machinery horizontally had failed last week.
Most of the workers are migrant labourers from across the country. Many of their families had travelled to the location, where they have camped out for days to get updates on the rescue effort and in hopes of seeing their relatives soon.