One month on, no headway in finding trapped Meghalaya miners 

NDRF personnel at the site of the Meghalaya mine disaster.

New Delhi: A month after the collapse and flooding of an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, the rescue operation still continues despite no hopes of the survival of the 15 miners trapped in the “rat hole”.

Five new teams of experts reached the spot to assist in the rescue operation, including those from National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee and a team from Chennai to operate remote-operated underwater vehicles along with the NDRF, which is currently being assisted by the Navy, Odisha Fire Services and Coal India Limited in the rescue work.

Sudhir Kumar, a scientist with National Institute of Hydrology, said, “We reached the spot today and got the basic understanding and hope to start work from tomorrow.”

While the hydrologists would use topographical maps to figure out the source of water seeping into the mine, the NGRI team would use a ground-penetrating radar to find the “rat-hole sized” tunnels and map the mine.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court expressed its dissatisfaction over how the rescue operation was progressing.

The National Disaster Response Force, Army, Air Force, Navy and a host of other teams are working in the rescue operations. However, the relatives of the mine workers say they have no hopes of the men returning home alive.

इसे हिंदी में पढ़े: मेघालय खदान हादसा: एक महीने बाद भी फंसे हुए मजदूरों को खोज जारी

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