Rat-hole mining

The practice is banned by the National Green Tribunal;[2][3] however, the techniques are still employed by artisanal mining operations in several parts of India, especially in Meghalaya.

[4] Rat-Hole Mining technique is a procedure of digging manually[5][6] wherein the worker involved in extraction can hardly crawl in and out, as a narrow tunnel is dug 3 to 4 feet in depth.

While five miners managed to escape, rescue efforts for the remaining 10 continued till 2 March 2019.

[15][16][17] On 21 January 2021 six miners died in an incident in a mineshaft in an area of rat-hole mines in the East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.

[18] In late 2023 rat-hole miners were instrumental in the rescue of 41 workers who were trapped for 17 days after the road tunnel in Uttarakhand that they were digging collapsed.