Submersible robotic inspection firm joins Meghalaya mine rescue ops

A team of a city-based company that specialises in submersible robotic inspections on Sunday joined the operation to rescue 15 miners trapped for a month now inside a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya.

According to the website of the company, Planys Technologies, it is an IIT Madras incubated company that provides submersible robotic inspections and survey solutions using Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV).

One ROV and a six-member team of the firm have joined the operation, a company official said.

"The team joined Sunday. They are working with the Navy," the official, who did not want to be named, told PTI.

The miners have been trapped inside a 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district since December 13, 2018 after water from a nearby river gushed in, puncturing the mine wall.

Even as a multi-agency effort to rescue them is underway, the Supreme Court is hearing a PIL in the matter for urgent action.

The Centre on Friday told the apex court it has to "believe in miracles" and see if the miners come out alive.

The Indian Navy and planes and helicopters of the Indian Air Force have been deployed in the rescue operations.