From Saurav Borah
GUWAHATI: Lack of visibility coupled with movement restrictions inside a dark, flooded rat hole mine such as the affected mine in East Jaintia Hills, would have rendered rescue operations complicated and challenging for any diving team, sources say.
Speaking exclusively to The Shillong Times here on Saturday, SK Sastri, commandant, NDRF (Number 1 Battalion), said, “While the odds (such as visibility and cramped room) may be stacked heavily against the operations to detect the trapped miners, our stand is that we will keep the operations on till the last resources are exhausted.”
“So, if the state government goes ahead with all the logistics required for pumping out the water, I am in no hurry of pulling out the troops. Then again, until and unless you actually detect the bodies you cannot be sure whether there are casualties inside the mine. In this case, there are arterial tunnels (branching out up to 200 feet), where the miners might be stranded, and as luck would have it, even alive,” Sastri said.
On whether such an operation would have been conducive for Navy deep sea divers, Sastri said, “Deep sea diving is a different concept altogether as sea water is absolutely clear and the area is vast, hence there is both visibility and freedom of movement. In this particular case, even the underwater torches do not work.”
“The capabilities of Navy and NDRF are different. But while the Navy divers are equipped with special suits and equipment for deep sea operations, I do not think there could have been a difference in this particular operation as their entry into the arterial spaces would have been difficult,” he added.
The NDRF officer said that the fact that the affected mine was flooded with so much water made the operations all the more difficult. “Besides, as the mines in the area are unregulated, no safety features have been prescribed,” he said.
On the limitation that the NDRF divers could submerge up to 30 feet only, he said, “Even if the divers were able to touch the surface, it would have been hard to make lateral movements inside the arteries.”
Asked whether NDRF operations elsewhere in the region has not been affected, he said, “Not as such, as we have 18 teams in our disposal with two of them engaged in the affected mine in East Jaintia Hills, two teams stationed in Agartala and one in Aizawl. “Fortunately, this is the lean season. So, while training time could have been affected, if something positive comes out, they would be wiser after the operations,” he said.
Survey done
On the advice of mining engineer and expert, Jaswant Singh Gill, who had on Thursday inspected the site, a survey was carried out on Saturday to ascertain the points from where the water was seeping into the mine shaft, be it from the river or other quarries.
“The survey report would be available only tomorrow (Sunday) and only thereafter will we consult the expert and take a decision as to what our next course of action should be. As it is, the water level in the mine and river has been more or less static, barring the 26 inch increase on Wednesday, because of rain, and thereafter a 17 inch decrease the next day. Yesterday, there was a six-seven inch decrease and today, just a three inch reduction,” Sastri said.
So, on the ninth day, the operations on the part of the NDRF could not progress much as the water level in the flooded mine shaft was found to be more or less the same, even as two high-power pumps were unable to reduce the water up to the desired level for the divers to operate.
Meanwhile, sources said the East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner has shot off a letter to the state government, in accordance with the advice of Gill, to approach Coal India Ltd to provide five to six submersible high-power pumps to extract water from the affected mine.