SHILLONG: It is almost three months since 15 coal miners were trapped in an illegal coal mine in East Jaintia Hills and now the state government is contemplating to appeal before the Supreme Court to let the apex court know how difficult the situation had become to carry on with the rescue operations.
Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the operations had become very difficult to carry on with it.
“Even the navy has pulled out keeping in view the situation in the coastal areas. We have been trying our best even after involving so many top level agencies but we have not been able to save the lives and retrieve the bodies and it has been a massive challenge,” the Chief Minister said
Stating that it was their duty to keep trying and the government kept on trying to rescue the coal miners, the chief minister added that that whether the rescue operations should continue or not, the call would be taken after discussing matter with experts.
On being asked if the state government would appeal before the Supreme Court to call off the rescue operations since the it was monitoring the operations, Sangma added that the government would appeal before the apex court and let it know about how difficult the situation has become.
He further said that the different agencies involved in the rescue operations had tried the best to rescue the coal miners.
It was on December 13 last year when as many as 15 coal miners working in an illegal coal mine at Ksan in East jaintia Hills were trapped inside the mine.
Following the incident a multi-level rescue operation was carried out and even the Indian Navy was pulled in .
However, even after all the efforts , the authorities have been able to retrieve the dead bodies of only two coal miners who were working in the ill-fated coal mine that day.