UTTARKASHI: It was rat-hole miners’ talent and experience that came in handy and resulted in the rescue of 41 trapped workers at the Silkyara tunnel.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said that rathole miners did a phenomenal job by digging 10 metres in less than 24 hours.

“Rat-hole mining may be illegal, but rat miners’ talent and experience is being used, it is their capability which is being used,” he said in a media briefing here.

The National Green Tribunal in 2014 imposed a ban on coal mining using the rat-hole mining technique in Meghalaya.

Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed “rat holes”, as each just about fits one person.

At the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, at least 12 experts have been called by Trenchless Engineering Services Pvt Ltd and Navayuga Engineers Pvt Ltd to deploy the rat-hole mining technique horizontally in the collapsed part of the main structure.