Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: Who are rat hole miners and how do they work ?
Who would have guessed that the banned practice of rat hole mining would come to the rescue of the workers trapped inside the collapsed tunnel in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, especially after sophisticated equipment such as the auger drilling machine failed to create a rescue passage? But what exactly is this practice, and why was it banned? Let’s take a look.
Who are rat hole miners?
Rat hole mining is mainly prevalent in Meghalaya, especially in the West Jaintia Hills, East Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills. It involves manually digging up small tunnels, around 3-4 feet, through which workers enter and extract coal.
