27 days on, rescuers on toes to bring out 15 trapped miners from Meghalaya mine

Rescuers are burning the midnight oil by continuously pumping out water from an illegal flooded coal mine in Ksan near Lytein River in East Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, where 15 miners are trapped for nearly a month now.

The Odisha Fire Service started draining out the water from 11 am today from two old shafts while five more pumps have been set up near the temporary pit.

Coal India Limited also began pumping out the water from the pit around 9 am today and six more pumps have reached at the venue so far. These additional pumps could be pressed into service to expedite the rescue operation.

The Indian Navy divers went down the main shaft to pull out an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that got stuck inside on Monday. They said that the water level in the shaft remained the same.

Meanwhile, the Kirloskar Brother Ltd are ready to install more pumps in the next few hours and will use it for dewatering the main shaft.

15 miners have been trapped in 370-feet deep illegal mine in Lumthari village since December 13 last year, when the water from the nearby Lytein River flooded the mine.

Since then, rescuers are struggling hard to pump out water from the inundated mine. So far, attempts by rescuers to reach them have yielded no result.