Meghalaya coal mine mishap- Rescue operation continue on 17th day, NDRF rescue team went inside flooded mine, but could not success .
Shillong
Divers from the Navy and the NDRF went inside the flooded Meghalaya mine on Saturday to conduct a recce and measure the level of accumulated water as part of the rescue operation of the 15 trapped miners.
The water level is estimated to be more than 77-80 feet in the vertical shaft of the rat-hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills district, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Assistant Commandant Santosh Kumar Singh told media team present at location.
“The Navy divers and I went down inside the mine and preparatory exercises were conducted. I hope that all the rescue agencies will begin the operations at the first ray of light tomorrow,” Singh said.
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The 15-member Navy team, equipped with specialised diving equipment, arrived at the site in the remote Lumthari village on Saturday.
District officials said that the Odisha Fire and Emergency Services would press their 10 high-powered pumps on Sunday to dewater the flooded mine.
They said a team of experts from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, have also arrived on Saturday, along with an ace mine-mishap expert from Punjab, Jaswant Singh Gill, to assist in the operation.
The NDRF personnel have been engaged in the operation at the mine since December 14, a day after the disaster took place.
The mine, located on top of a hillock fully covered with trees, had got flooded when water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it on December 13, trapping the 15 diggers.
