Indian Naval divers captured pictures of a body inside a 370-feet flooded coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district, where 15 miners have remained trapped since December, an official said on Thursday.
“One body detected by Indian Navy divers using an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) at a depth of approx 160 feet and 210 feet inside a rat-hole mine," the Navy spokesperson said in a tweet. The body has been pulled up to the mouth of the mine and will be extracted under the supervision of doctors. The body has been detected 32 days after the miners were trapped inside the mine on December 13 due to water gushing inside the mine.
Five miners managed to escape and alert people about the tragedy at Ksan village, about 130 km from Shillong. Rescue efforts are on to salvage the remaining 14 miners.
The Meghalaya government has roped in several central agencies including a team from Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute and Chennai-based Planys Technologies in the rescue operation.
Coal India Limited, Odisha firefighters, Kirloskar Brothers Limited are dewatering the abandoned coal mine shafts and the main shaft where the miners are trapped.
Coal mine accidents that have been rampant in the mountainous state for their unscientific "rat hole mining" habits even after a National Green Tribunal imposed an interim ban April 2014.
The Meghalaya Cabinet on Wednesday discussed the ongoing rescue operations. Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who also handles the mining and geology department, and Home Minister James Sangma apprised the Cabinet about the latest rescue situation at Ksan village in State's East Jaintia Hills district.
"Till today (Wednesday), the rescue operation is still on. In the next few days, the district administration and the department concerned will meet the experts who are in ground zero. They tried their best and they are doing it till today... let us see for how many more days," said Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynosng.