Navy team leader, NDRF personnel enters mine shaft to ascertain water level
Lumthari (Meghalaya), Dec 30 : A team leader from the Indian Navy and NDRF personnel went inside a 370-foot-deep mine, where 15 miners are trapped, to ascertain the water level inside on Sunday afternoon, officials said.
The Navy divers and their equipment arrived at the site around 1.30 pm Sunday after which the Navy personnel started measuring the actual level of the water in the mine shaft.
The 10 pumps brought by the rescue team from Odisha have been kept on standby. Meanwhile, the divers have also been kept on standby, the officials said.
The Navy wanted to ascertain the water level as their divers can operate up to 100 feet in a closed container-type situation, a district official said.
Nearly 200 rescuers from various agencies are stationed at the site. The Odisha Fire Service team had brought 10 high-powered pumps with them.
East Jaintia Hills district SP Sylvester Nongtynger said that at least two pumps will have to be lowered down to the water level inside the mine shaft to begin the operation.
Odisha Chief Fire Officer S Sethi said his team was tasked with pumping water out and they are ready for the job.
"Our only concern is that if we install the pumps now, the carbon exhaust may suffocate the entire mine shaft," Sethi said.
The remaining eight pumps will be placed at various locations identified in the area, he said.
One high-powered submersible pumps with an output capacity of 500 gallons per minute is arriving Sunday from CIL Ranchi, CIL Kolkata GM A K Bharali said.
Bharali, who arrived here four days ago, said that as soon as the generators and platforms are made available at the mine shaft, the pumping of water will begin.
Five more pumps from CIL Centres in Ranchi, Dhandbad and Asansol are on road and are expected to arrive anytime, he said. A senior district official said a few pumps of Coal India Ltd have arrived in Guwahati and are expected to reach the site soon.
A team of 25 CIL personnel are at the site and survey teams are doing their job, Bharali said.
The miners have been trapped in the mine in the Ksan area of Lumthari village in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district since December 13, after water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is coordinating the rescue operations with the help of Navy, the NDMA and Coal India Ltd.
"The Navy divers have reported that they have the capacity to go a depth of 100 feet, whereas the NDRF divers can go to a depth of 30 feet," East Jaintia Hills district SP Sylvester Nongtyngerthe said.
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Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for doc's murder in hospital
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Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
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