Shillong: A rescue operation is underway for over four days to save five miners who are trapped in an illegal coal mine after it got flooded following a dynamite explosion at Umpleng in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya.
The five miners have been identified by the district administration, four from Assam and one from Tripura and are believed to be trapped in the rat hole mine. The accident happened on Sunday and since then attempts are being made to rescue the miners. However, continuous heavy rainfall is hampering the rescue operation.
It has been estimated that the depth of the pit is over 500 feet and is filled with water upto 152 feet. The authorities believe miners could have been trapped in smaller horizontal pits.
On Tuesday, the rescuers from SDRF and Fire Service tried to reach the miners with cranes, ropes and hooks. They descended to the bottom of the vertical coal pit on an iron basket attached to a crane but there was no sign of any miner.
On Thursday, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) comprising divers have started the rescue operation.