SHILLONG: A joint rescue team comprising the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Indian Navy on Thursday brought out the body that was detected in the ill-fated mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills on January 16.
At least 16 miners are believed trapped in the illegal rat-hole coal mine since December 13.
Sources said initially one NDRF and two navy divers had gone down into the shaft. Subsequently, an NDRF and a Navy diver accompanied by a member of the medical team went back and brought out the body.
“It was put in a body bag after being lifted to the basket and finally brought up,” a source said.
Earlier, the navy’s underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) had brought the body close to the water surface – over 180 feet from ground level – for the divers to do the rest.
The rescue operations entered 42nd day on Thursday.
According to a statement issued by the NDRF, “After all the hardship and our dedicated efforts, a body was recovered from the main shaft.”
The entire operation ended around 3 pm. The navy’s effort to retrieve the highly decomposed body on Tuesday had failed after it slipped from the ROV’s clamps. The body was traced on Wednesday evening before the operation to retrieve it began once again on Thursday morning.
The inquest was conducted by the magistrate in presence of the deputy commissioner.
Dr Mitul Sangma, office of DMHO, East Khasi Hills, conducted the post-mortem at the site.
The body was to be taken to the Khliehriat community health centre, 36 km from the mine at Ksan, where it will be kept in cold storage to enable relatives to identify it.
Family members of some of the trapped miners had earlier failed to identify the body from its images captured by the ROV’s twin cameras. The administration had told the families the body was highly decomposed and would disintegrate if attempts were made to pull it out since flesh had already begun to peel off. However, the families had insisted that they wanted the bodies of their kin for performing last rites.
The body found on Thursday, though highly decomposed, was intact.
Both the Centre and the state government had assured the Supreme Court that operations to rescue the miners would continue.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said on Thursday the government would take a call on rescue operations only after seeking advice from experts working on the ground.
Talking to media persons here on Thursday, Tynsong said the government would like to continue with the operations but it all depends on the advice of experts.
“We would like to retrieve all the bodies and that is our intention but if the expert team feels that it is beyond their capacity, we will take a call on the matter,” he said and at the same time admitted that the expenditure incurred in the rescue operations is huge.
The fire service team of Odisha operated their pump for 6.5 hours from 10.40 am to 5pm on Thursday and the total discharge of water was 5,85,000 litres.
Coal India Limited pumped out the water from two old shafts from Wednesday evening till 5pm on Thursday clearing 31,18,500 litres.
The KSB operated their pump from 7 pm on Wednesday evening till 5pm on Thursday and discharged approximately 27,71,000 litres of water. (With inputs from PTI)
