Heroes who helped end 17-day ordeal

Their work is illegal and their efforts were unfancied. But in the end, 12 rat miners helped see through a mission that often teetered on the edge

- Amit Bathla

In the end, it was the most unheralded lot who stood tallest. As clouds of unease and uncertainty swarmed over the mountains of Silkyara, as glitch after glitch delayed freedom for 41 workers trapped in an under-construction tunnel for 17 days, an unsung group of miners took charge.

Twelve men, armed only with shovels, spades, hammers and drills, spent 24 hours holed into a narrow pipe, ploughing through a wall of debris in a desperate attempt to get to those trapped men. At the end of the 24 hours, these 12 men got the job done without a fuss - the labourers emerged, shaken and scarred, but safe.

Where modern machinery turned into stoppable forces in the e of a seemingly immovable object, this group was clinical.

They're known as "rat-hole miners" or "rat miners" - a term equating the work they do with rodents' movements. And their heroic rescue has cast the spotlight on an occupation that's outlawed across India, but is still prevalent in some mines and construction sites.

"It was a difficult task. But nothing is difficult for us," said a beaming Feroze Qureshi, one of the rat miners who not only rescued the trapped workers, but doused a nation's collective anxiety.