SHILLONG: Indian Navy divers on Monday requested the administration to flush out water from the shaft of the ill-fated mine at Ksan, where 15 miners are trapped since December 13, to bring its depth to 30 metres (about 99 feet) or “within safe diving limits” after which they will recommence diving even as they found wooden structure, coal and a rat hole inside.
The depth of the water in the shaft is estimated to be about 176 feet.
R Susngi, DPRO, East Jaintia Hills district, who is now the spokesperson for the rescue operations, said the safety measures were being undertaken to rule out “decompression sickness” adding divers have said search would be feasible only after the water level is reduced.
The divers were inside the shaft for about three hours, Susngi said adding visibility inside is just about a foot.They were assisted by an underwater remotely-operated vehicle (UWROV).
Monday was the 18th day of the rescue operation
In the meantime, the Odisha Fire Service team which is tasked with dewatering the mine, is now ready to commence pumping from tomorrow with all logistics in place.
Chief Fire Officer Sukanta Sethi told The Shillong Times over phone from the mine site that they would additionally drain out water from a couple of mines close to the one in which the miners are trapped. “We pumped out a little bit of water from one of the mines located below today (Monday),” he said.
“It is suspected that the mines around may be interlinked with the one where the rescue operation is being carried out. We plan to dewater two such mines besides the one in which the accident has taken place,” he said. The water will be flushed out through a relay method by using two pumps in each of the shafts.
“We plan to discharge the water as far away from the mine as possible so that it doesn’t get back inside through seepage,” he said adding the Lytein river could be a point of discharge. “This is our strategy…we will have to see how everything goes,” he said.
Susngi said NDRF personnel were at hand to provide all support and assistance to the other agencies, including the Navy divers. The NDRF was the first to be called in for the rescue operations a day after water flooded the coal mine trapping the 15 miners. However, the depth of the water in the shaft, which was initially calculated at 70 feet, prevented the divers from reaching the bottom. NDRF divers are trained to go as far as 40 feet and with only two 25 HP pumps at their disposal for drawing the water, compared to the 100 HP pumps made available now, they could do little.
The General Manger of Coal India Ltd (Northeastern Coalfields), J K Borah, said one of the eight submersible pumps that drain out 500 gallons of water per minute had reached the area.
Mining expert and award-winning rescuer Jaswant Singh Gill lamented the lack of coordination between the state government and rescuing agencies.
“The rescue operation is very slow because of lack of coordination between the state and central agencies. In this kind of an emergency situation, we expect they should work like a machine and synchronized like a machine,” Gill said.
Gill, who shot to fame after he successfully rescued 64 miners from a flooded quarry in West Bengal in 1989, hoped that the trapped miners could be “rescued alive”. (With agency input)
