NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: Both Meghalaya government and the Centre on Monday assured the Supreme Court that they were not abandoning the operation to rescue the 15 miners trapped in the rat-hole mine at Ksan in the East Jaintia Hills district since December 13.
The counsel for petitioner Aditya N Prasad, Anand Grover, was agitated at reports that rescue operations will be suspended. There were also reports that the lone body spotted is in a highly decomposed state and would disintegrate if further efforts are made to bring it out.
On Sunday, it was reported that efforts to retrieve the body were suspended. However, since the status report was filed later on Monday, the rescue team has resumed operations, the court was told.
“We have not abandoned the rescue operation”, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench of Justice A K Sikri and Justice S Abdul Nazeer after Grover asserted that the administration was ‘abandoning’ the operations.
“They are abandoning the whole process,” Grover told the bench.
Solicitor General Mehta objected to Grover telling the court that the administration can’t have a ‘lackadaisical’ approach to carrying out the rescue operations.
In its status report of the rescue operations since January 7, the Advocate General of the Meghalaya government Amit Kumar said that on January 16 the Navy’s underwater remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) detected a body.
The ROV was used to move the body. “In the process of pulling the body, the skull, the left wrist, and the leg from the knee level got disengaged. It is the considered opinion of the naval team that if the body is pulled further, there will be total disintegration of different parts, rendering the same virtually impossible to retrieve… Presumably and as per the latest reports, the bodies of the remaining miners are behind the body detected on January 16,” the report said.
The identity of this body could not be ascertained as it was lying prostrate with the head downward and the flesh on the skull had already started to decompose.
The court said the Centre and the state should look into the suggestions made by the petitioner with regard to the rescue operation and posted the hearing next Monday as both the Centre and the Meghalaya government said that rescue operations would continue.
The state government filed a detailed status report on the rescue operation and mentioned the various problems encountered such as the difficult terrain and lack of proper infrastructure at the site. It also said the Indian Navy and aircraft and helicopters of the Indian Air Force were deployed to rescue the trapped miners. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta had earlier told the Supreme Court to “believe in miracles”.
Meanwhile, operation spokesperson R Susngi informed that the district authorities were waiting for the family members of another seven miners hailing from Rajabala area in West Garo Hills district to identify the body.
“They are yet to arrive at the site. We are hoping they will arrive anytime this week”, he said, adding that the ROV operations by the Navy was suspended too awaiting further orders from the government.
Another report quoting an “official,” said the authorities have given the green signal to the Navy to pull out the remains of the body.
“They will resume their operation tomorrow,” the official, who is monitoring rescue operation, said. (With inputs from agencies)