[1/4] Ambulances move inside a tunnel where rescue operations are underway to rescue trapped workers, after the tunnel collapsed, in Uttarkashi in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, November 28, 2023. While augur machines managed to horizontally drill through nearly three-quarters of the debris, it fell on half a dozen miners adept at burrowing in tight spaces to reach the trapped workers on Tuesday. Some of the miners involved in the rescue operation said they were not involved in coal mining and got their training in Delhi. The pits are sized just enough for the workers, often children, to descend using ropes or ladders to extract coal - often without safety measures and proper ventilation. The practice became illegal in the 1970s, when India nationalised coal mines and gave state-run Coal India a monopoly.

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Persons: Francis Mascarenhas, Qureshi, Nasir Hussain, Saurabh Sharma, Shivam Patel, Angus MacSwan Organizations: REUTERS, Rescuers, Thomson Locations: Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, India, Meghalaya, Delhi, Silkyara, New Delhi