Rescue operatives gather at the entrance of the under construction Silkyara during a rescue operation in India's Uttarakhand state on Tuesday. AFP

Hats off to the Indian authorities and rescue teams who are continually trying their level best to recover 41 workers who have been trapped in a collapsed road tunnel in Uttarakhand state for over two weeks (“Indian rescuers just five metres from 41 trapped in tunnel,” Nov.28, Gulf Today website).

Indian rescue teams digging by hand are now within five metres of 41 men who have been trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for over two weeks, officials said on Tuesday, saying a breakthrough was expected "soon." After repeated setbacks in the operation, military engineers and skilled miners are working by hand in a painstaking dig through rock and rubble towards the men using a so-called "rat-hole" mining technique to clear the final stretch.

Note the verse of the Holy Quran which has been mentioned in connection with the right to life, God has said: "And whoever saves a life it is as though he had saved the lives of all mankind." Life and death are in the hands of Almighty Allah, no one will depart from this world till his or her time is over, but to save a human life is a highly noble work.

As the Indian authorities have played a huge and commendable role in rescuing trapped collapsed road tunnel workers, they will not leave any stone unturned to recover all the trapped people and save their lives.

Farooq Usman,

By email