Lumthari Coal Mine Tragedy: Navy suspends operation to retrieve body of dead miner

LUMTHARI MINE TRAGEDY

A Correspondent

SHILLONG: Rescuers at the illegal rat-hole mine in the Khloo Ryngksan area under Lumthari village, where 15 miners have been trapped since December 13 last year, are unable to retrieve the body detected on January 16.

“The navy today suspended taking out the highly decomposed bodies that fall apart while being pulled out with Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) jaw,” the spokesperson of the rescue team,R Susngi, said on Sunday. Susngi also said that the rescuers are waiting for a direction from the State Government.

It may be mentioned that it was on January 16 - 34 days after the miners went missing that the body of one of the missing miners was detected. The video image of the body showed that it was highly decomposed and flesh was coming off – “disengaging” in official parlance. Officials apprehended that the body – draped in a blue jean pant and a red T-shirt – would completely fall apart if attempted to pull it out.

Meanwhile, the pumps of the Coal India Limited, KBS Company and Odisha Fire Service, continued with their operation of pumping out water from the abandoned mines near the ill-fated shaft. The Coal India Limited continued dewatering in the two old shafts and ran their pumps for 23 hours each since Saturday evening till 5 pm on Sunday. “The two pumps ran simultaneously for a total of 46 hours,” Susngi said.

According to the spokesperson, the KSB operated their pump from 5 pm on Saturday till 5pm on Sunday.

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