Rescuers of trapped workers to be honoured

The Himachal Kalyan Sabha, a non-profit body, will honour the rescuers who freed two of the three workers trapped in a tunnel in Himachal Pradesh for nine days.

"This was one of the biggest operations of its kind for the National Disaster Response Force in Himachal Pradesh. They saved two of the three workers trapped in a tunnel being constructed for the Kiratpur-Nerchowk four-lane project," Sabha president D.D. Dogra said.

"All the team members of the rescue force will be invited by us and honoured on December 20 for their courage, committement, dedication and expertise in carrying out one of the most difficult rescue operations successfully," Dogra said in a statement.

In a first-of-its kind operation, the rescuers managed to evacuate two construction workers -- Satish Tomar and Mani Ram -- after some 200 hours of their ordeal in the tunnel. They were evacuated on Monday.

A 50-odd member team comprising engineers, technical staff and geologists drilled a 42-metre vertical shaft through the mountain in bid to rescue the workers. The whereabouts of the third worker, Hirdya Ram, are not known yet.