GUWAHATI, Jan 8: The body of one of the nine miners trapped inside the “flooded” coal mine in the 3 Kilo area of Umrangso in central Assam’s Dima Hasao district was retrieved by divers from the Indian Army’s 21 Para Special Forces and NDRF on Wednesday morning.
The recovery of the miner, identified as Ganga Bahadur Srestho from Udayapur district of Nepal, comes about 48 hours after at least nine labourers engaged in Assam Coal Quarry were left stranded deep inside the mine after water from unascertained sources flooded the well on Monday morning.
Reportedly, the divers had recovered the body about 85 feet inside the mine after starting their recovery operations around 6.45 am on Wednesday amidst visibility issues inside the tunnel with the murky water making sighting difficult.
Speaking to the media, Special DGP, Assam Police, Harmeet Singh, who is currently monitoring rescue operations at the site, said four divers from the Indian Army and NRDF were able to retrieve the body of one diver from the bottom of the shaft on Wednesday morning.
Singh said the tunnel seemed to be connected to a water source through arterial channels at the subterranean level because of which, despite continuous dewatering, the water level inside the well has not receded to the extent it should have.
Notably, a multi-agency operation is underway with Indian Army, NDRF and Indian Navy divers engaged in the recovery mission amidst dewatering of the flooded mine by a high-power pump of the ONGC.
Earlier, the ONGC de-watering pump was loaded onto an MI-17 helicopter at Kumbhigram en route to the site in Dima Hasao. SDRF dewatering pumps too have been deployed at the site. Coal India experts too are at the site to assist the teams engaged in the rescue operations.
According to reports, the operation to retrieve eight other trapped miners concluded on Wednesday afternoon with the completion of the recce by underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), equipped with SONAR technology, deployed by the Indian Navy team.
The navy team comprises an officer and eleven sailors, including highly-trained clearance divers skilled in deep-depth diving and recovery operations.
With intensive search and rescue operations underway, regular information is being exchanged with all agencies involved to facilitate a smooth and timely rescue operation, officials stated.