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India says border peace critical to ties with China amid reports of military tensions

India's foreign ministry said peace along its disputed border with China is critical to ties between the Asian neighbours, amid reports of renewed military tensions between the two countries' troops in a remote corner of the Himalayas. New Delhi's comment is its second in less than a week and comes as the Asian giants, who share a long and disputed frontier, mend ties following deadly clashes in 2020. It also comes ahead of a BRICS summit in New Delhi from September 12 to 13 that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend. "In matters relating to the border areas between India and China, we have always emphasised in discussions with the Chinese side that we consider these issues as most serious," Indian foreign ministry ⁠spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday at a regular media briefing. "We have also stated that the state of...

'Rat miners' to the rescue: How trapped India tunnel workers were saved

When heavy machinery broke down trying to break through the debris trapping 41 workers in a tunnel in the Indian Himalayas, authorities called in a group of people whose profession is effectively banned in the country - "rat-hole mining". 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. Rescuers successfully pulled out the workers in wheeled stretchers through a wide pipe that was pushed through the debris after a 17-day ordeal. "It was a difficult task, but for us nothing is difficult," said a beaming Firoz Qureshi, one of the miners, standing with his fellow workers outside the tunnel, their faces patched with white dust after overnight drilling. Read  All trapped Indian workers rescued from Himalayan tunnel, say officials The "rat miners" started working late on Monday after a second drilling machine also broke down with 15 metres out of 60 metres still left to reach the trapped men. They worked in two teams of three each, with one person drilling, the second collecting the debris and the third pushing it out of the pipe. They said they had worked for more than 24 hours. "When we saw them inside the tunnel after the breakthrough, we hugged them like they were family," said Nasir Hussain, one of the six miners. "Rat-hole" mining is a hazardous and controversial method used extensively in the northeastern state of Meghalaya to extract thin seams of coal before an environmental court in 2014 banned the practice because of environmental damage and many fatalities.

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