Meghalaya: Indian Navy continues diving operations to locate trapped miners from Sutnga coalmine

While the divers have managed to retrieve the body of one of the miners, the Indian Navy is conducting daunting operations to rescue the other four miners.

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SHILLONG:

A 12-member Indian Navy diving team has been pressed into action since June 12 to rescue five miners trapped in a flooded coal mine located at Sutnga in East Jaintia Hills.

While the divers have managed to retrieve the body of one of the miners, the Indian Navy is conducting daunting operations to rescue the other four miners.

The current operation entails the Indian Navy divers to lower themselves into an extremely narrow shaft to a depth of almost 400 feet and carry out diving up to further 100 feet, to search for trapped miners.

The task to rescue the miners has become a challenge for the divers' because of the terrain underneath the coal mine, with barely enough space for a person to crawl.

The daunting task is marred by poor underwater visibility, unmapped shaft construction hazards, flotsam and falling debris. Further, diving for prolonged durations at low temperatures (ranging between 3 – 5 degree celsius) poses significant medical risks to the divers.

Currently, over 50 personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force, District Disaster Response Force, Fire and Emergency Service and the police have been deployed at the site, with naval divers carrying out the critical task.

Despite numerous obstacles. the Indian Navy divers assiduously continue with the search operation which has entered the sixth day, with the hope that any light at the end of the tunnel will bring lasting solace to the families.  

While the divers have specialised equipment such as the Diver Hand Held Navigation System (DHNS) for bottom-mapping of the mine-shaft, any technology can do little to ameliorate the raw, gut-wrenching adversity that such an operation entails.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

ALSO READ: Meghalaya coalmine tragedy: Body of one trapped miner retrieved; search for four others continues

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