Khliehriat (Meghalaya), Jan 2: The families of the trapped miners inside a flooded coal pit for 21 days now in Meghalaya on Wednesday said that they are giving up hope of them coming out alive, even as rescuers are struggling to dewater the pit.
“We have lost all hope to see him alive again. I just wish they retrieve his body so that we can give them a decent burial and pray for them,” said Krishna Limbu, the brother-in-law of Assh Bahadur Limbu, who is among those trapped in the mine.
Assh, 21, a native of Assam’s Karbi Anglong district, is one of at least 15 miners trapped inside the flooded illegal coalmine at Ksan village in East Jaintia Hills district since December 13.
“It is only God’s wish, if he still wishes them to be alive. It is 21 days now and the water level in the pit is not receding despite Odisha fire services are pumping out the water since yesterday (Monday),” he said.
“Like the other family members of those trapped miners. I have lost all hope,” Krishna  sighed.
Rescue Operations Spokesperson, Reginald Susngi, said that Odisha firefighters has drained out 7.20 lakh litres of water in 6 hours on Wednesday from an old shaft nearby the main shaft, where miners are trapped.  
He said the water level in the old shaft has receded by one feet and 4 inches.
“However, the water level in the main shaft will be determined only after the Indian Navy divers measure the water level,” Sunsgi said.
On Monday, Indian Navy divers had located a wooden structure, coal lying beneath and one rat hole with coal at its mouth inside the flooded mine. They had requested for dewatering the flooded mine so that the divers could dive to the bottom of the 370-feet-coal pit.
A high-capacity submersible pump of Coal India Limited - that can pump out 500 gallon of water per minute - has arrived at the site and are ready to de-water the old shaft on Thursday.
India’s leading pump manufacturers Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL), which was roped in by Thailand government and rescued 12 young Thai footballers and their coach from flooded cave, have joined in with four specialized high-capacity dewatering pumps.

“Our specialized high-capacity dewatering pumps reached the site. Installation works are on,” KBL’s Project manager, N . Mahapatra said.

Describing the rescue operation as “very slow”, mining expert and award-winning rescuer Jaswant Singh Gill on Wednesday said, “There is no coordination at all.  Safety of human lives is most important. In this kind of an emergency situation, we expect they should work like a machine and synchronised like a machine."
“They need to get the mining map to know where from the water has entered coalmine ... there are many abandoned flooded coalmines and those boys (trapped miners) have punctured into the wall of another abandoned mine,” Gill told IANS.
The accident inside the illegal coal pit on December 13 was of significance, especially because the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered an interim ban on "rat-hole" coal mining in the state effective April 17, 2014.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had promised that "appropriate action will be taken at appropriate time against the people who are involved in the illegal mining and this is not acceptable to us."

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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