Summary:
Five coal miners are trapped in a 500-feet deep coal mine in the East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya for the last 17 days
.
The dead body of one miner out of the five miners was retrieved today afternoon.
Five coal miners are trapped in a 500-feet deep coal mine in the East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya for the last 17 days
District Deputy Commissioner E Kharmalki told that divers of the Indian Navy and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) retrieved the body from the bottom of the 152-metre-deep pit.
He said that the body is yet to be identified but it could be one of the trapped labourers.
The narrow entrance mine at Umpleng, 20 km from Khalihriat, the district headquarters of East Jaintia Hills district, was flooded on Sunday (30 May) following a dynamite explosion.
On Tuesday, the Navy had detected two objects which were suspected to be the bodies of the workers, he said.
The official said the operation to retrieve the second "suspicious object" was called off as underwater visibility got lost when the first body was pulled out.
A 12-member team of the Indian Navy reached the spot and started the rescue operation to find the workers from Monday after the Meghalaya Government asked for their help to save the labourers.
There was a big accident inside the coal mine in the Rymbai area of ​​East Jaintia Hills earlier in
January this year.
6 labourers fell into a 150 feet deep ditch while digging a tunnel in the mine here.
However, later all the 6 bodies were taken out from the trench by the local administration and police.
Illegal rat-hole coal mining is allegedly rampant in Meghalaya despite a ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal in 2014.
.