Navy proposes alternate shaft to rescue miners

SHILLONG: The Navy has proposed construction of an alternate shaft to enable divers to recover the body of the second miner and others at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills.
It was on January 26 that the body of the second miner was spotted in a rat hole mine but it could not be retrieved by the ROV due to the turbidity of the water inside the existing shaft.
An official source said on Sunday that due to the delay in retrieving the bodies of the miners, a proposal was made by the navy to the army that is providing logistics in the rescue operations.
The source, however, added that it will be difficult to make an alternate shaft adjacent to the main shaft where the bodies are trapped due to the difficult terrain.
According to the government source, besides consuming time, there will be huge expenditure involved in making a new shaft and even after completing the task, there is no certainty on whether the bodies will be retrieved.
Regarding the ongoing operations, an official statement said on Sunday, the navy continued its search to retrieve the second body. “It was noted today that there is a lot of undercurrent in the flow of water inside the rat holes which might have contributed to the turbidity of water,” the statement said.
According to the official, as requested by the captain of Navy, the district administration may suspend pumping of water on Sunday night which may facilitate smooth operation of ROV.
Earlier, the CIL pumped out 48,60,000 litres of water and Kirloskar 28,80,000 litres. The KSB resumed pumping at 2 pm with both their pumps running for six hours and water discharged was 5,94,000 litres.