Meghalaya rat hole coal mine disaster : Navy divers find one of the bodies of trapped miners after 33 days
Guwahati, Jan 17 (IBNS) : Navy divers on Thursday found the body of one of the 15 miners trapped inside a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, 33 days after the incident, media reports said.
According to News 18, the divers have managed to bring the body to the mouth of the mine and it will now be retrieved in the presence of doctors.
The body has reportedly been found at a depth of 160 feet and 210 feet inside the rat hole.
According to reports, the the water level inside the more than 350-feet deep mine remains same, even as several litres of water has been pumped out. Ten 63 Horsepower pumps were brought in by the Odisha Fire Rescue team that were made operational. The underwater vehicles used by Indian Navy had also got stuck inside the mine several times.
The tragedy took place on December 13, 2018, when a group of labourers went down the illegal rat hole coal mine. While four of them managed to survive, 15 others remained trapped as river water gushed inside.
The NDRF team, along with help from SDRF and civil administration, was the first to start the rescue operation the next day of the incident. However, because of lack of available resources , work was stalled after a few days. The search operation resumed after divers from Odisha and more heavy duty pumps were brought in.
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