'Fed me almonds': How trapped workers reacted when they first met rescue workers inside Uttarakhand tunnel

“I removed the last rock. I could see them. Then I went to the other side. I couldn’t. They hugged us, lifted us, and thanked us for taking them out,” these were the words of Munna Qureshi, the first rat miner who reached the site of the trapped area in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara Tunnel. Recalling the moment, he told Hindustan Times, “We worked continuously in the last 24 hours. I can’t express my happiness. I have done it for my country. The respect they (trapped workers) have given us, I can’t forget in my whole life.” Another Delhi rat miner, who manually cleared the debris in the final phase, came from the tunnel, was unable to hold back his emotions. “I hugged the trapped worker. “I just cried,” he said. Munna Qureshi and Monu Kumar, experts in the rat-hole mining technique, were the first to meet the 41 labourers rescued from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand on Tuesday after they cleared the last bit of the rubble inside the structure. All the 41 workers were rescued on Tuesday evening after 17 days of a multi-agency operation conducted by the central and state governments. Here’s how the rat miners get the job done? What were the workers’ reactions when these saviours arrived? Offered almonds, lifted on shoulders When excavators and powerful drills failed to bore through the debris, the work was eventually assigned to “rat-hole miners,” who was tasked with digging away at 12 metres of rubble. Qureshi from Delhi and Kumar from Uttar Pradesh were part of that team. Qureshi dug for 24 hours, metres deep into a 2.6-foot-wide steel pipe. Hunched and tired, exhaustion washed over him in waves. But the 29-year-old Delhi knew he couldn’t quit. **In Graphics | A day-by-day account of the daring Uttarkashi rescue operation** He pulled aside the last rock that stood between him and the survivors around 7.05 pm on Tuesday. “I can’t describe my happiness,” Qureshi remarked shortly after the first worker was taken out at 7.45 pm, reports Hindustan Times. “They (the labourers) could hear us when we reached the last portion of the rubble. Soon after removing the rubble, we got down to the other side,” Qureshi, a resident of Delhi’s Khajoori Khas, told PTI. “The labourers thanked and hugged me. They also lifted me on their shoulders,” he said, adding that he was happier than the rescued workers. Qureshi is an employee of the Delhi-based Rockwell Enterprises, an expert in tunnelling work. “They (the labourers) gave me almonds and asked my name. Soon, our other colleagues joined us and we were there for about half an hour,” Kumar, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, said. [caption id=“attachment_13443502” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] All the 41 workers were rescued on Tuesday evening after 17 days of a multi-agency operation conducted by the central and state governments. PTI[/caption] He said the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel went inside the tunnel after them. “We came back only after the NDRF personnel arrived,” Kumar said. “We are very happy that we were part of this historic operation,” he added. **In Images | The final stages of Uttarkashi tunnel rescue and the moment the workers were freed** The leader of the 12-member team from Rockwell Enterprises, Wakeel Hassan, said he was approached for help by a company involved in the rescue operation four days ago. “The work got delayed while removing the portion of the auger from the rubble. We started at 3 pm on Monday and finished the work at 6 pm on Tuesday,” Hassan said, adding, “We had said the work will be finished in 24 to 36 hours and that is what we did.” **Also Read: Uttarkashi tunnel collapse: How the rescue of 41 trapped workers unfolded over 17 days** He also said they did not charge any money for taking part in the rescue operation. ‘Achieved a milestone’ Describing the operation, Munna told Hindustan Times that the miners worked in shifts to clear the rubble at the pipe’s end. [caption id=“attachment_13443512” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Delhi rat miner, Feroz Qureshi, who manually cleared the debris in the final phase, came from the tunnel, unable to hold back his emotions. AP[/caption] Another rat miner from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, Parsadi Lodhi, claimed the procedure was not difficult but tiresome. **Also Read: Khichdi in bottle, yoga: How 41 workers are surviving in Uttarkashi tunnel** “There was enough space inside to remove the debris,” Lodhi, who has been doing this work for ten years, explained. Qureshi described the day as a watershed moment in his life. With inputs from PTI