Boats, Cranes To Search For 13 Trapped In "Rat Hole" Mine In Meghalaya
GUWAHATI, Dec 15: Two days after 13 people were trapped in an illegal "rat hole" coal mine in a remote part of Meghalaya, massive search and rescue operations are on. Over 100 personnel have been pressed into action since Friday morning to rescue the people from the 320-feet deep mine.
Dozens of emergency workers were pumping water out of a large trench that was flooded early Thursday near a nearby river in the mineral-rich state. The water inside the mine is around 70 feet deep, official sources said.
The rescue teams include personnel from the National Disaster Response, State Disaster Response Force and civil defence.
NDRF rescuers and divers searched inside the flooded coal mine and all accessible areas with the help of boats. Poor visibility inside the mine due to muddy water and coal dust remains a big challenge for the rescuers. No map or plan of the mine - divided into chambers - is available, making it tougher to locate the trapped people.
The police in East Jaintia Hills, who got to know about the missing miners on Thursday morning, said the mine appears to be an old, abandoned one where illegal mining had resumed about a week ago. "Rat hole" mines are common in Meghalaya as they are dug by locals but are very dangerous as the coal is pulled out from narrow, horizontal seams.
"The focus is on the rescue operations in the area. We are concerned about them.The NDRF and the police are leading the operation. We admit that illegal mining was going on. We will take action. This is not acceptable," Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told NDTV.
A complaint has been registered against the owner of the mine who is missing.
Three of the trapped miners inside are from Lumthari in Meghalaya. The remaining 10 are from West Garo Hills and neighbouring Assam.
The National Green Tribunal had banned coal mining in Meghalaya in 2014 after environmental activists complained it was responsible for severe water pollution.
But the practice continues with miners illegally extracting coal using dangerous so-called rat hole mines which often lead to accidents.
At least 15 miners were killed after they were trapped inside a flooded rat-hole mine elsewhere in Meghalaya in 2012. Their bodies were never recovered.
Courtesy: www.ndtv.com
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
