SHILLONG: The operations to rescue 15 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district for the past 24 days got a shot in the arm Saturday when two high-power pumps started dewatering the main shaft.
The pumps became operational 10 days after the Kirloskar Brothers Ltd offered to help and assist the state government in the rescue operations, officials said.
But, since the pumps functioned only for one hour, the Navy divers did not go down to gauge the water level inside the shaft so that they could resume the search for the diggers.
“At about 3:30 pm, a team from Kirloskar Brothers Ltd was able to start their pumps in the main shaft (where the miners are trapped),” operation spokesperson R Susngi said.
He, however, said that since the pumps were operational for only one hour, the Navy divers did not go down to determine the water level inside the main shaft.
Water was earlier being pumped out of the main shaft by the NDRF since they started operations on December 14, but the exercise was stopped on December 24 since it wasn’t having much impact on the water level as seepage into the mine continued.
The NDRF were using 25 HP pumps, which were not powerful enough compared to the pumps being used now by Kirloskar, Coal India and Odisha Fire Service.
The rescuers stop work at 5 pm daily when darkness falls.
“The pump has to run at least 10 to 12 hours continuously before the water level is determined”, Susngi said.
He said that on Sunday, the unmanned remotely operated vehicle will be sent down to check at the bottom of the shaft again.
Meanwhile, a high-power submersible pump of Coal India Ltd and two other pumps of Odisha Fire Service are engaged in dewatering the nearby abandoned mines, which might be interlinked with the main mine shaft and may help in lowering water in the latter, he said.
He said that the Odisha Fire Service had reported that water level in one of the old shafts had receded by 17 inches.
Rescue divers from the Indian Navy and the NDRF are yet to make any significant impact in their search and rescue operations as the water level is still beyond 100 feet, the safe diving capacity for the divers, the official said.
The water level at the main shaft where the miners are trapped is about 160 feet, he said, adding that total depth of the main shaft is about 370 feet. (With PTI inputs)