Meghalaya: Trapped miner's disintegrated body slips to bottom of mine shaft
Shillong, Jan 23: The body of one of the 15 trapped miners, which was spotted last week, has disintegrated and slipped to bottom of the main shaft in course of the Navy's efforts to pull it out of the flooded mine, officials said Wednesday.
The Navy personnel are trying their best to locate the remains with their unmanned Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), an official said.
Navy divers detected the body using an ROV at a depth of around 160 feet inside the main shaft on Wednesday last.
They resumed efforts to pull out the body on Tuesday on the advice of the district administration.
The remains of the miner slipped away from the jaw of the ROV while attempting to pull it out of the bottom of the main shaft of the coal mine last evening, operations spokesperson R Susngi said.
It happened due to presence of pipes, cables and debris in the main shaft, he said.
The Indian Navy resumed the search on Wednesday and its efforts to locate the remains have not been successful so far, he added.
The operation to rescue the miners entered the 42nd day on Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, teams of pump operators from Coal India Ltd, Odisha Fire Service and Kirloskar Brothers Ltd have discharged over 81 lakh litres of water from the nearby abandoned mines.
Family members of the trapped miners have been waiting anxiously for news of their loved ones and are visiting the site regularly and they are regularly updated on the progress, Susngi said.
The 15 miners disappeared inside the mine on December 13 last year.
According to five miners who had a narrow escape, one of the workers could have accidentally punctured the walls of possibly another nearby abandoned and flooded mine.
The state government has announced Rs 1 lakh interim relief for families of all the trapped miners and the Supreme Court is monitoring the case on a weekly basis. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.
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First direct US-Venezuela commercial flight in 7 years to land in Caracas
Caracas (Venezuela) (AP): The first direct commercial flight between the United States and Venezuela is scheduled to land on Thursday in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, seven years after the US Department of Homeland Security ordered an indefinite suspension, citing security concerns.
The resumption of a commercial flight between the two countries comes in the wake of the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, in early January.
It also comes a month after the US formally reopened its embassy in Caracas following the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country.
Flight AA3599 operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was scheduled to depart from Miami at 10:16 a.m. local time and arrive three hours later in the Venezuelan capital, returning to Florida later in the afternoon.
Earlier, the airline said a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.
In late January, US President Donald Trump said he informed Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over Venezuela, allowing Americans to visit.
“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there,” Trump said at the time.
The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the US and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. For the past seven years, passengers have relied on international airlines and indirect routes through neighbouring Latin American countries.
In January, when the airline announced the resumption of flights it said it would give customers the opportunity to reunite with families and pursue new business opportunities.
American Airlines was the last US airline flying to Venezuela. It suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.
