Divers from Navy, other agencies reach spot

The search for at least 13 miners trapped in a water-filled coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills since December 13 will resume on Sunday, with divers from the Navy and experts from other agencies reaching the spot on Saturday afternoon.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force, not equipped to undertake operations in narrow ‘rat-hole’ coal mines, had tried in vain to drain out the water from the rectangular 350 ft pit at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district. The pumps available with them were not powerful enough to drain out the pit that kept filling with water to a level of about 70 ft.

Officials said – on the basis of the accounts of five survivors of the mishap – the miners could have either hit an aquifer or the bed of the Lytein river nearby while digging for coal along the narrow seams, 3-4 ft high underneath. The NDRF had a few days ago suspended the operation to rescue the miners or retrieve their bodies, triggering criticisms against the Narendra Modi government for being indifferent to the mishap. A renewed search by multiple agencies, including the Navy, Odisha Fire Service and Coal India Limited, was subsequently ordered.

“The Navy and Odisha Fire Service teams reached the spot along with at least 10 high-power water pumps in the afternoon. We briefed them about what we have done so far. They made a preliminary survey and decided to start from Sunday morning,” NDRF deputy commandant Santosh Kumar Singh, who headed the operation earlier, said.

The NDRF handed over the rescue operation to the other agencies but will remain a part of the exercise. While the 15-member Navy team from Vishakhapatnam has five divers, the Coal India Limited team includes a mining and a disaster expert.

Tough time

The teams had reached Guwahati on Friday morning but had a tough time reaching the place 220 km away. Officials said the place where they have been put up is far from the ill-fated mine, which can be reached after walking for at least 3 km.

The machines have to be taken part by part and assembled at the spot, officials said.