Rat-Hole Miners 5 mtrs Away from Workers Trapped in Uttarkashi Tunnel

New Delhi: Rat-hole mining experts are burrowing a hole to evacuate 41 workers trapped inside the collapsed Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarkashi on Tuesday. They were engaged to undertake manual drilling through the rubble.

By Monday evening, the last bit of the busted auger drilling machine had been cut out piece by piece and a steel pipe inserted further into the partially complete escape passage.

Along with it, vertical drilling from above the tunnel is also continuing. By Tuesday morning, a total of 86 metres was drilled through vertical drilling.

Rescuers hope to pull out workers by Thursday through a one-metre-wide shaft when it breaks through the top of the tunnel below.

A total of 12 rat-hole mining experts are involved in the manual drilling excavation horizontally. They have completed a total of 51.5 metres of horizontal drilling.

Rat-hole mining is a hazardous procedure in which miners in small groups go down narrow burrows to excavate small quantities of coal.