Navy detects body of one of 15 miners trapped in coal mine in Meghalaya

New Delhi/Shillong, January 17

Navy divers on Thursday found a body in an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills where 15 miners were trapped since December 13, officials said.

“One body detected by Navy divers using underwater ROV at a depth of approx 160 feet and 210 feet inside a rat-hole mine,” a Navy spokesperson said in a statement.

The body had been brought up to the mouth of the rat-hole mine and would be extracted out of it under the supervision of doctors, the officials said, adding that the rescue operations were going on.

The district authorities, however, are tight-lipped on the development.

On December 13, water from nearby Lytein river flooded a network of tunnels in the 370-foot-deep coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills, trapping 15 men and prompting a multiple-agency rescue attempt.

In the Khloo-Ryngksan area, where the ill-fated mine is located at the western side of a small hillock, the Lytein river crisscrosses the valley for over 2 km. PTI