Heroes of Uttarkashi tunnel rescue: Munna Qureshi and other rat-hole miners

Munna Qureshi, a rat-hole miner was the first person to reach the tunnel workers. He along with Monu Kumar, Wakeel Khan, Feroz, Parsadi Lodhi and Vipin Rajput have turned out to be the heroes of the Uttarkashi rescue mission. They were the rat-hole miners who reached the trapped men and made the rescue mission a big success.

For those unaware, the rescue mission in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara tunnel was taking place for 17 days and on Wednesday, all 41 workers were rescued.

Munna Qureshi, a 29-year-old miner employed by a trenchless engineering services company in Delhi, specializes in rat-hole mining—a technique involving the excavation of small pits to extract coal. Recently, he was among the group of miners called to Uttarakhand for a crucial rescue mission.

Their task was to clear the final 12 meters of debris left behind after the malfunction of a US-made auger machine in a tunnel.

Rat-hole miners became the last hope for the rescue operation as the auger machine broke down. It's worth noting that rat-hole mining was prohibited in 2014 due to its unscientific nature as a coal-extraction method.

On Tuesday evening, Munna Qureshi accomplished the challenging task of removing the last rock and saw the 41 workers who had been trapped. His efforts were met with expressions of gratitude as the rescued workers applauded him.

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