GUWAHATI: Rescue teams at the East Jaintia Hills mining site could not do much on the tenth day on Sunday with the water level in the flooded mine shaft remaining more or less the same despite continuous extraction of water by pumps.
At least 14 miners were trapped in the 350-foot rat hole mine after water from a river nearby, entered the mine from multiple points and blocked their exit routes to the surface on the morning of December 13.
“We went there, checked the water level in the mine shaft only to find that it has receded by just one and half inches, which is negligible. Hence, nothing could be done. Now, we are waiting for the survey report on the water seepage points which will be made known to us by the government,” Santosh Kumar, assistant commandant, 1st Battalion, NDRF, told The Shillong Times on Sunday evening.
NDRF divers can dive up to about 30 feet deep into the mine. The shaft itself has water up to 70 feet or more. However, with a number of arteries branching out to around 200 feet from inside the mine, even if the divers were to reach the bottom, there is a complex situation facing them as the miners could be stuck inside those lateral tunnels.
Meanwhile, a survey was carried out by a team from the state government on Saturday on the advice of mining engineer and expert Jaswant Singh Gill who had inspected the site last Thursday.
“The survey team was present at the site today as well probably to collect data regarding the water level for analysis,” Kumar said.
As of date, there is an anxious wait for the high power submersible water pumps to arrive at the site. Gill had suggested the East Jaintia Hills district administration to write to the state government for requisitioning the pumps from Coal India Ltd for extracting water from the mine.
“I have informed and requested the state government. The matter is being examined by the government,” East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner, Frederick M. Dopth, told this correspondent on Sunday evening, when asked about an update on the communication with the state government after Gill’s suggestions.