KSAN (EAST JAINTIA HILLS): The search and rescue operations for the 15 trapped miners in a rat-hole coal mine here are poised to go to the next level with teams of Indian Navy and Odisha Fire Service preparing to get into action on Sunday.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which has battled against heavy odds to trace the miners since December 14, a day after water flooded the mine and trapped them, will now be “by their side.”
A three-member advance Navy team, including an officer and two clearance divers, and a 21-member Odisha Fire Service contingent visited the site on Saturday and were briefed by Santosh Kumar Singh, assistant commandant, 1st Battalion of the NDRF.
“We briefed them about all that we have done so far and shared all information we have gathered since we started the operation,” Singh told The Shillong Times.
Singh showed them the lay of the land and drew a rough sketch of how the mine actually pans out once the 350 plus-foot depth is reached.
He said the Odisha Fire Service will dewater the mine while Navy divers will go in to look for the trapped miners.
“The NDRF will be by their side,” Singh said.
“The Odisha Fire Service team has requisitioned certain accessories for the 10 high-power pumps they have brought,” Singh said adding that on Saturday they tested these and checked for compatibility besides assessing the situation.
He said the three Navy personnel also went down the shaft till the surface of the water.
According to Defence sources, 11 Navy divers are expected to begin work at first light on Sunday. The divers will have underwater remotely-operated vehicle to assist them.
NDRF officials also measured the depth of the water on Saturday and informed that it was 176-foot deep. This must be a challenging operation even for Navy divers who might not have gone inside a perpendicular shaft that would then branch out into small perforations inside the earth where the coal seams occur.
Meanwhile, surveyors from Coal India Limited on Saturday surveyed some of mines in the area — there are reportedly about 90. According to sources, most of these mines had a lot of water.
“They used submersible pumps to flush out the water when they were operational, but ever since they shut shop in April, 2014 after the NGT ban, ground water has collected there,” a source said.
Local people informed that there are several abandoned mines nearby and the water into the Ksan mine must have gushed in because the miners had hit on one of walls of an abandoned mine. They said this has been the reason for flooding of mines.
The mine in which the 15 miners are trapped is also suspected to be connected to the Lytein river.
How many are there?
Locals who gathered at the place day after day, told this correspondent that it is difficult to say exactly how many people are trapped inside. No one really knows. Not even the person who escaped before the hole was flooded because miners are taken inside in batches and no one knows who is in and who is out.
Sitting with a mournful look are the uncles of the three locals boys, 20-year-old Salabas Dkhar and the two brothers Dimonme Dkhar and his elder brother Melambok Dkhar.
When asked if the two young men had informed their family members that they were undertaking this dangerous mining task, the two men said, these young boys were all bread winners for their families. Their fathers had abandoned them at a very young age.
The 3.5-hour journey from Shillong to the Ksan mine in Lumthari is an arduous one. Large tracts of the road after crossing Sutnga and Shnongrim are still under construction.
The mine is located deep inside an area that is not motorable except by pick-up vans with four wheel drive.
Most media persons who had to reach the Ksan mine had to wade knee-deep across the Lytein river at three places. After that they have to trudge uphill where the mine is located. Some were fortunate to get a lift on the pick-up vehicles which were ferrying rescue teams to and fro.
Meanwhile the Additional Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police, East Jaintia Hills, SS Syiemlieh and Sylvester Nongtnger were seen trying to hold the fort and answer queries but they too looked ill at ease and clearly not on top of things.
There is a sense of foreboding as if the worst is not yet over and the number of miners trapped inside the mine that have been belted out by media persons day after day could actually go up.
It took almost a week before the district administration, East Jaintia Hills, could actually send out an SOS for pumps of 100 HP. Now it has taken another week for those to arrive.
It remains to be seen how the rescue efforts begin Sunday onwards now that experienced rescuers and equipment have been brought to the site.