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HomeIndiaGovernanceSeveral skeletons found in Meghalaya's illegal rat-hole mine 35 days after tragedy

Several skeletons found in Meghalaya’s illegal rat-hole mine 35 days after tragedy

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The Navy rescue team detected the first body at a depth of 160 feet, more than a month after 15 miners were trapped on 13 December. 

New Delhi: The Indian Navy’s underwater remotely operated vehicles Thursday found several skeletons in Meghalaya’s collapsed rat-hole mine, where 15 miners have been trapped since 13 December, sources said.

This came hours after a Navy rescue team detected the first body, 35 days after the mine collapsed.

The sources said that the skeletons were spotted at a depth of 160 feet.

Experts said the high concentration of sulphur in the mine could have led to the decomposition of the bodies. The authorities have called in a forensic team to help identify the remains. The team is expected to reach Thursday evening, the sources said.

Earlier, the Navy team detected the first body at a depth of 160 feet. The level of water in the mine is currently at over 160 feet.

According to a spokesperson of the Indian Navy, the rescuers had pulled the body up to the mouth of the rat-hole mine, and were working with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to pull it out.

“We are not sure about the condition of the body as it’s been over a month [since the accident],” a senior NDRF official at the site told ThePrint over phone. “That is why the Navy team will take the help of doctors while taking the body out. At this stage, chances of survival look dim.”

The rescue operation was slow to take off in the days immediately following the accident as the Meghalaya government allegedly failed to provide more men and the required equipment on time.

It was only after the tardy rescue initiative was flagged by the media that the Meghalaya government approached the Indian Navy and state-owned Coal India’s help.

For example, the NDRF team deployed at the site from day one had failed to make any breakthrough as the two pumps provided by the district administration to pump out the water had proved completely ineffective.

“There was a possibility that the miners could have been saved if the present scale of rescue operation was there at the site within the first few days of the accident,” an official involved in the rescue operation told ThePrint over the phone.


Also read: These are the 15 Meghalaya miners trapped in a rat-hole coal mine


High water level inside the mine biggest challenge

The biggest challenge that the multi-agency rescue team is facing at the site is the high level of water inside the coal mine.

Despite the use of high-powered submersible pumps to draw out the water, there has only been a marginal decrease in its level, which has hampered rescue operations.

The Indian Navy had told the district administration that the search will be feasible only when the level of the water comes down.


Also read: No one is bothered because we are poor, say families of trapped Meghalaya miners


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