Navy divers find miner’s body, several skeletons

New Delhi/Shillong, Jan 17

Navy divers have found a body of one of the 15 trapped miners and also spotted several skeletons in the flooded rat-hole coal mines in Meghalaya East Jaintia Hills district, weeks after a multi-agency search operation was launched to rescue them, officials and sources said on Thursday.

The Naval personnel spotted the decomposed body of one of the miners about 200 feet along the horizontally dug small hole and managed to pull it about half way to the bottom of the shaft, operation spokesperson R Susngi said. But the body, which is yet to be identified, could not be extracted out of the shaft due to apprehension that further moving it could result in its disintegration.

As the operation continued on the 36th day, sources said the Navy divers on Thursday also spotted through a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) a number of skeletons inside one of the rat-hole mines and are waiting for the state administration's directive on the future course of action. They said it was not clear if the skeletons were of the missing miners.

In New Delhi, Navy Spokesperson Capt DK Sharma said the Navy divers detected the body using an ROV at a depth of approximately 160 ft to 210 ft inside the rat hole mine on Wednesday night.

The body has been pulled up to the 'mouth' of the mine and is being retrieved under the supervision of a team of doctors, he said.

The 15 miners were trapped in an illegal rat-hole coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills district since December 13 after water from a nearby river gushed in. The rescue efforts picked up days later when several agencies were roped in as the rescuers were struggling to pump out water from the mines.

“Our divers are trying by hit and trial in uncharted mines. We’ve established that the miners were in the area. It has been a very complicated operation. We will continue our operation,” Capt Sharma said.

On skeletons being seen by the Navy team, the sources said the water inside the mines has high sulphur content which can decompose the bodies fast. “Skeletons were seen by the ROV. We do not know whether the skeletons are of the trapped miners. Forensics experts are expected to tell the rescuers about the next step,” said a source.

The Deputy Commissioner has asked the family members of the miners from nearby Lumthari village and from Assam’s Chirang district to identify the body. After the process of identification through the video prepared by the Navy divers of the decomposed body, efforts would be made on Friday to bring it out of the shaft, the sources said. — PTI