"Rat miners" rescue operation successfully frees 41 trapped workers after 17 days

After 17 days, a team of "rat miners" in India successfully reached 41 men trapped in a Himalayan highway tunnel that partially collapsed on November 12. The rat-hole miners, experts in a traditional method of coal mining, manually drilled through the debris to create a narrow passageway. Rescuers had previously attempted to reach the trapped workers using heavy machinery but were unsuccessful. The trapped men will undergo medical checks after their rescue. Rat-hole mining is a banned method of manual coal extraction that is damaging to the environment and has unsafe labor conditions, but it remains prevalent in parts of India.