Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: Meet rat-hole miner Munna Qureshi who removed last rock

Qureshi called it an emotional moment when the trapped workers were finally reached. He was the first from the rescue team to reach the workers.

“I removed the last rock. I could see them. Then, I went to the other side. They hugged us, lifted us, and thanked us for taking them out,” Qureshi was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, he added, “The respect they (trapped workers) have given us, I can’t forget in my whole life.”

Rat-hole mining, a method involving digging small pits, was banned in 2014 for being considered unscientific. However, in this critical rescue operation, the rat-hole miners made it possible to get access to the workers after the US-made auger machine malfunctioned. Qureshi and his colleagues were tasked with digging through the 12 metres of rubble that stood between the trapped workers and freedom.

Working tirelessly for 24 hours, Qureshi and his team dug deep into a 2.6-foot-wide steel pipe, reported First Post.

The miners operated in shifts to clear the rubble at the pipe’s end. When the breakthrough finally occurred, Qureshi and his fellow miners descended to the other side, greeted by the jubilant cheers of the long-awaiting workers, PTI reported.

Monu Kumar, Wakeel Khan, Feroz, Parsadi Lodhi, and Vipin Rajout were the other rat-hole miners who joined Qureshi in the successful operation. The trapped men, elated at the sight of their rescuers, expressed their joy by lifting the miners and even offering them almonds as a token of gratitude, the Hindustan Times report added.

The rat-hole miners stayed with the rescued workers for half an hour before the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) finally rescued all the workers.