Miners’ fate hangs in balance

Guwahati: Fate of 15 miners trapped since December 13 at a rat-hole mine in Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills continues to hang in balance with ongoing search operation coming to a halt on Tuesday as two pumping machine failed to mitigate the inflow of gushing water from nearby river into the mine.

Informing that two 25-horsepower (hp) pumps, pressed to drain out the flooded illegal mine were ineffective, the commandant of the NDRF battalion engaged in recue operation said that inflow of water from a nearby river was much more than what these two pumps could pump out.

Pointing out that district administration and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been waiting for powerful 100 hp pumps to arrive for the past three days, sources engaged in recue operation said that state government was yet to provide the pumps.

The deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills F M Dopth said, “We have temporarily suspended the exercise to pump water out of the mine as it did not yield any result. The water level has not subsided yet.”

Water from the nearby Lytein River has been gushing into the mine continuously and a survey conducted recently to locate the cracks through which water has been entering didn’t yield any result.

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma had requested the Centre to send in experts to oversee the rescue operation following which renowned miner Jaswant Singh Gill visited the site and offered his advice. However, it has also failed to work.

“We have not found anyone, dead or alive, so we are waiting for support from the state government to carry on the rescue operation,” Mr S.K. Sastri, commandant of the NDRF’s 1st battalion told reporters.

There has been no contact with the workers but their families are clinging to hopes that they are in an air pocket.

The mine in which miners are trapped is filled with 70 feet of water, making it inaccessible to rescue workers.

It is significant that this mine in the Ksan area of Lumthari village in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district was closed for years, since the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered a ban on all types of coal mining in Meghalaya on April,