East Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) [India], February 7 : Despite facing many challenges, the NDRF personnel have successfully recovered 6 out of 24 bodies so far from the coal mine site at Mysyngat of Thangsko area in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district.
Several labourers were trapped inside an illegal coal mine at Mysyngat of the Thangsko area on February 5 following an explosion.
HPS Kandari, Commandant of the 1st Battalion of NDRF, toldthat there are challenges in the rat-holes.
"We have attended other coal mine incidents also, such as a flooding coal mine. For the first time, we are participating in this type of operation. The depth of this coal mine is approximately 100 feet, and then there are rat-holes. Challenges are in the rat-holes. Earlier, there was an issue that might be poisonous gases. Stability of minds is also a challenge, and to ensure that these rat-holes are safe, looking for the bodies in the dark and bringing them out. These are the difficulties," HPS Kandari said.
Amit Kumar, Constable of 1st Battalion of NDRF, toldthat the depth of the coal mine is 100 feet and faces many challenges.
"When we went inside the coal mine, we saw that water was also coming ou,t and we informedthe Commandant. He himself checked that soaring is high and low. We halted the operation for some time and started the operation in a nearby mine. We recovered one dead body from there; there are four holes inside the mine. Yesterday, after completing the search in all four holes, we again came to the first mine, and yesterday we found three more dead bodies. This morning, we resumed our operation and went to around 300 feet depth and recovered two more bodies. It was so difficult to retrieve the bodies. The hole was 2.5 feet height and we went inside by crawling, rolling and finally reached the spot. Civilians also helped us," Amit Kumar said.
Manoj Kumar, another member of NDRF, said that the search and rescue operation is still on.
On the other hand, describing the challenges faced by the NDRF personnel during the operation, Nripen Tiwari, Deputy Commandant of 1st Battalion of NDRF, toldthat the location is very remote and, except for the victims who were trapped inside the mine, others all fled from this area following the incident.
"There is no person here to provide the actual data on how many persons were trapped. There is only speculation. But the nearest people said that work continued in these two mines when the incident happened, and as per the information shared by the administration. Our task is to clear both mines. Yesterday we cleared one mine. Since yesterday, we have recovered six dead bodies so far with the help of local miners. We have the resources, and they are supporting us. The search and rescue is going on. This mine is almost cleared, and final searching is going on in one rat-hole," Nripen Tiwari said.
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