‘Rat hole’ miners to the rescue: how trapped India tunnel workers were saved

Their profession is effectively banned in the country, but it was these miners who authorities turned to when heavy drilling machines broke down

The name of the hazardous and controversial method comes from its resemblance to rodents burrowing pits into the ground

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“Rat miners” get ready to begin manual drilling in an operation to save workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi, India on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:40am, 29 Nov 2023Updated: 2:43pm, 29 Nov 2023

When heavy machinery broke down trying to break through the debris trapping 41 workers in a tunnel in the Indian Himalayas, authorities called in a group of people whose profession is effectively banned in the country – “rat hole mining”.

While augur machines managed to horizontally drill through nearly three-quarters of the debris, it fell on half a dozen miners adept at burrowing in tight spaces to reach the trapped workers on Tuesday.

Rescuers successfully pulled out the workers in wheeled stretchers through a wide pipe that was pushed through the debris after a 17-day ordeal.

“It was a difficult task, but for us nothing is difficult,” said a beaming Firoz Qureshi, one of the miners, standing with his fellow workers outside the tunnel, their faces patched with white dust after overnight drilling.

The “rat miners” started working late on Monday after a second drilling machine also broke down with 15 metres out of 60 metres still left to reach the trapped men.

They worked in two teams of three each, with one person drilling, the second collecting the debris and the third pushing it out of the pipe.

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