File Photo
Shillong, Feb 27: A combined team of the Indian Navy and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Wednesday pulled out one of the three bodies from a 370 deep feet flooded coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district where 13 miners are still trapped since December 13 last year.
“The highly decomposed unidentified body was pulled to the water surface by the Indian Navy’s underwater remotely operated vehicle (UROV) and then taken out in a bucket-type container to the higher grounds at 1.20 p.m, ” a senior rescue official said.
This is the second body pulled out of the coal mine – 77 days after 15 coal miners were trapped inside the rat-hole coal. The Indian Navy divers retrieved the first body identified as Amir Hussain from Assam’s Chirang district on January 23.
The recovered dead body was detected with the help of a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), at the 230 feet depth in the same rat-hole where the third and fourth miners’ bodies were located
He said the body has been handed over to the Meghalaya police and is now taken to Khliehriat hospital for autopsy.
“It was a painful exercise as they had to slowly pull out the body as the flesh started tearing off when the ROV tried to get a grip on bodies,†the official said, adding that efforts are on to pull out the third and fourth body located on Saturday and Monday.
15 miners were trapped after water gushed into the illegal coal mine located at Khloo Ryngksan.
The tragedy came to light after five miners escaped from the coal pit.
The Supreme Court, which is monitoring the rescue operations, has told the government the trapped miners must be taken out of the mine, “dead” or “alive”.