Meghalaya | ‘Make rescue of miners first priority’: Rahul Gandhi appeals to state govt

SHILLONG, January 19, 2019: Congress presidentRahul Gandhi made a fervent appeal to the Meghalaya government on Friday tomake as a first priority the rescue of the people who are trapped in a coalmine for more than a month.

"I am very pained at learning about the news of thedeath of a trapped miner in Meghalaya's coal mines. Many of our labourers arestruck there.

"I appeal to the government to make this their firstpriority. The families of the trapped labour force are waiting for their safereturn. I pray to God for their safe return to homes," Gandhi said in aFacebook post in Hindi.

Navy divers had found a body of one of the 15 trapped minersand also spotted several skeletons in the flooded rat-hole coal mine in EastJaintia Hills district on Thursday, weeks after a multi-agency search operationwas launched to rescue them, officials said.

Around 15 miners remain trapped in the mine since December13 after water from a nearby river gushed in. The rescue efforts picked up dayslater when several agencies were roped in as the rescuers were struggling topump out water from the mines.

(PTI)