Meghalaya Mine Rescue: Navy, NDRF Struggling to Retrieve Decomposed Body of Second Miner

Shillong: The Navy and the NDRF team are struggling to retrieve the decomposed body of the second miner found deep inside the 370-foot-deep coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, officials said on Monday.

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

Nearly 200 rescue personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Indian Navy, Odisha Fire Service and state agencies are involved in the search-and-rescue operation.

The body of the second miner was found nearly 300 feet away from the bottom of the main shaft three days ago by the underwater ROV of the Navy but the operation to retrieve the remains took longer as there are too many obstacles, operations spokesperson R Susngi said.

“The operation took longer and the Navy are struggling to retrieve the body due to many obstacles inside the small man-hole and materials used by the miners. The turbidity of the water has also affected even as efforts are going on till filing of the report,” Susngi said.

The remains of the first miner, identified as Amir Hussain from Assams Chirang district, was detected by the ROV on January 16 at about 200 feet away from the bottom of the shaft and it took eight days to pull the body out.

The state government had announced Rs 1 lakh interim relief to 15 of the trapped miners identified even as the police are trying to verify the claims of the other two.