A month after 15 miners got trapped inside a rat-hole mine in Meghalaya, one body has been detected by divers on Thursday morning, the Indian Navy informed on Twitter. "One body detected by Indian Navy Divers using Underwater ROV at a depth of approx 60 feet and 210 feet inside a rat-hole mine," SpokespersonNavy, the official Twitter handle of the Indian Navy, stated.
#MeghalayaMineTragedy #Flash One body detected by Indian Navy Divers using Underwater ROV at a depth of approx 60 feet and 210 feet inside a rat-hole mine @SpokespersonMoD @DefenceMinIndia @nsitharaman @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/sP1sv6ikRn
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) January 17, 2019
In a second tweet, the handle corrected that the body has been detected at a depth of about 160 feet and extraction was underway. "The depth is 160 feet (and not 60 feet) and the body has been pulled upto the mouth of rat-hole mine and shall be extracted out of the mine under the supervision of doctors," the Navy said.
ALSO READ: Mine games―rat-hole minig continues unabated
#MeghalayaMineTragedy The depth is 160 feet (and not 60 feet) and the body has been pulled upto the mouth of Rat-hole mine and shall be extracted out of the mine under the supervision of Doctors
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) January 17, 2019
Fifteen miners have been trapped inside the illegal coal mine in East Jaintia Hills since December 13. The mine got flooded when water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it. It is feared that none of the miners would make it alive.
The rescue operations were making little headway after the water refused to recede despite attempts to pump out the same using high-powered pumps.
The miners' rescue operations raked in controversy for alleged lack of interest and prompt actions from the Meghalaya government as well as the Centre.
