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Meghalaya summons families of trapped miners to help identify body

East Jaintia Hills district Deputy Commissioner FM Dopth has asked families of the trapped miners from West Garo Hills to come to the site of the accident in an effort to identify a body spotted by the Navy’s Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) on Wednesday, a spokesperson of the East Jaintia Hills district administration said today.

The spokesperson reiterated that while efforts were on to retrieve the body, there is a risk of the body disintegrating. Rescuers had said how parts of the unidentified body disintegrated as the ROV attempted to pull it out on Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday, five families from Chirang in Assam and East Jaintia Hills had met the DC and told him that they want the dead body to be pulled out.

Meanwhile, superintendent of police (SP) of East Jaintia Hills district Sylvester Nongtynger said they are investigating claims by family of Kuti Miya, a miner from Hojai in Assam, that he too is trapped in the mine.

His brother Aminul Uddin, who also worked in the mine till December 7, said Miya is also trapped. The claim was confirmed by Sayeb Ali, who managed to survive when the mine flooded on December 13. He said to travelled to the site of the accident on December 14 and gave details of his brother to the district administration.

This would take the number of trapped miners to 16 even as Ali claimed there is one more from Nepal who is trapped inside.

“It’s difficult to know the exact number since the district administration has not been able to get to the Sardar, who was managing the mine operations and knows the details of the people who were working there,” said a NDRF official who is part of the joint rescue team.

This NDRF official said since a decision to retrieve the dead body has not been taken yet, one of the Navy’s ROV is still attached to the spotted dead body in the rat hole. Till the body is pulled out, the ROV cannot enter this particular rat hole and look for the other miners.

“The Navy had pulled out the ROV after spotting the dead body on Wednesday. It took many hours to spot it again,” a rescuer claimed.

The Navy, meanwhile, continues to scan another rat hole with its second ROV. “It’s a maze of tunnels as you enter the rat hole. They branch out every ten feet. It’s not easy to do it without someone who has worked there,” said the NDRF official.

Hopes of any survivors more than a month after the mine flooded have receded. State government officials also suggested that that rescue operation is still under way only because of the Supreme Court order. The matter will be heard again on Monday.

First Published: Jan 20, 2019 14:46 IST

Source: HindustanTimes