SHILLONG, June 15: Indian Navy divers have detected two objects, suspected to be human bodies, in the flooded main shaft on Tuesday, a fortnight after the operations began.
Though an official on the ground confirmed that two bodies had been spotted, the Navy team is yet to affirm the same. They will further analyse the footage of the two “suspicious objects” detected inside the rat-hole coal mine where six workers were trapped following a dynamite explosion on May 30.
“The Navy team could not go ahead with retrieving the two bodies on Tuesday since the water inside the mines was turbid,” the official added.
East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner Ethelbert Kharmalki said that they were analysing the footage taken by the Navy’s ROV to verify if the objects were human bodies. “The rescuers will analyse the footage and attempt to retrieve them if the visibility at the bottom of the mine improves,” he added.
Interestingly, a member of the rescue team told The Shillong Times on Tuesday evening that the two bodies will be retrieved on Wednesday, with the operation likely to begin around 7 am.
On Tuesday, Navy divers descended to the bottom of the main shaft and carried out mapping of the mine using ROV and SONAR.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, quoting a preliminary report, said that two bodies have been spotted in the coal mine. “We are awaiting official communication on this,” he added.
Meanwhile, the rescue teams consisting of NDRF, SDRF and SRT personnel measured the level of the water and found that it had risen by four feet due to the overnight rain.
“About 2.88 lakh liters of water has been pumped out from the main shaft and 7.56 lakh liters from the second shaft. No dewatering took place today as the Navy divers were in operation,” an official said.
