‘Rat hole’ miners lauded for India tunnel rescue hope for greater recognition

The “rat hole” miners who finally rescued 41 Indian workers who had been trapped in a mountain tunnel for more than two weeks on Tuesday have said the operation involved 26 hours of digging by hand, as they sought to highlight the harsh conditions and lack of dignity faced by manual labourers in India. Munna Qureshi, 33, was the first of the 12-man team to break through a wall of rubble and lay eyes on the 41 workers who had been trapped in the collapsed tunnel in the Himalayan mountains since 12 November. It was his expertise in the method of rat hole mining, which involves making narrow tunnels underground in often high-risk settings, that had led to him and his team being called on for the rescue after a drill broke down. “It was a larger-than-life situation and we were driven by the passion to save the lives of people who work like us,” Qureshi said. “It became our mission to bring them back alive. We took this as a rare chance to get our work recognised. I feel that the purpose of my life has been fulfilled.” Qureshi said he hoped that the crucial role played by labourers, who were hailed as heroes by politicians, would lead to greater awareness about their value and the risks of their work. He and his team are mostly employed to lay sewers and pipes using the rat hole technique, and are often paid just 500 rupees (£5) for 12 hours of work in which they are sometimes deprived of oxygen. The rescue operation was one of the largest in India’s history, involving multiple government agencies and the army, and it was closely followed by millions of people. A large drill managed to penetrate about 50 metres of the rubble and debris blocking the Silkyara tunnel entrance, and it was the efforts of Qureshi and his team using small hand drills and shovels that led to breaking through the final 12 metres of blockage. “People pinned their hopes on to us and we could not let them down,” Qureshi said. “We faced many challenges: we had to cut through metal bars, drill through huge rocks, and we kept pushing further til we reached the end. When we saw the workers on the other side, they were overwhelmed. There was happiness on both sides. On the other side, the workers embraced us and showered us with love for saving their lives. We told them it was not us but God who wanted them to live.” After being retrieved late on Tuesday night, all 41 labourers were taken first to a nearby medical centre and then in a helicopter to a larger hospital in the state of Uttarakhand. Most appeared to be in good spirits when they emerged, and the men were to be kept in hospital overnight and monitored for any adverse health effects from their 400 hours in the cut-off tunnel. Deepak Kumar, one of the rescued workers, told AFP that they had not been sure they would make it out alive, with the first 24 hours after the collapse the worst. “We were really scared, every moment felt that death was standing nearby,” he said. “It was not easy. After three or four days inside the collapsed tunnel, and the rescue team had failed to reach us, the reality is that our confidence and faith were at a low level.” Chamra Oraon, 32, from the state of Jharkhand, said they entertained themselves by playing Ludo on their phones. “We spoke among ourselves and got to know each other,” he added Most of the men in the tunnel were migrant labourers who had travelled sometimes hundreds of miles to find construction work. Despite the risks involved in heavy construction in the fragile Himalayan mountain region, the men were paid just $250 a month for the work, which is often carried out overnight in harsh conditions. On Wednesday they were each given a cheque by the government for the equivalent of £1,000 and the rat mining rescue team were each given £500. For Wakeel Hassan, 45, another of the rat hole miners who helped complete the rescue, the celebrations around their success were bittersweet. “Everyone is talking about us today and congratulating us for the rescue we did, but they don’t realise the work we do is one of the worst jobs,” he said. “Workers like us are treated badly, we get poor wages and we go days without eating, but then are glorified when they are needed, it is so sad. We have been made to be heroes for a while – but I know ultimately that will not change our condition.”