First body pulled out of Meghalaya mine, six weeks after 15 workers got stuck

Shillong, Jan 24: One body has been recovered on Thursday from the mine at Ksan near Lyteiñ River in East Jaintia Hills.

The body, which was disintegrating, had been spotted last week, but on Wednesday disintegrated and slipped to the bottom of the main shaft while the Navy was trying to bring it out.

The body was recovered from over 183-feet air column and about 170-feet water column (total of about 355 feet vertically depth) in the main shaft and about 210-feet horizontal distance in the rat-hole tunnel.

Officials say the Navy personnel are trying their best to locate the remains with their unmanned Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) in the flooded mine in East Jaintia Hills.

The Meghalaya government informed the Supreme Court on Monday that the operations at the rat-hole coal mine to look for survivors will continue. It also indicated that the workers trapped in the mine for more than a month may have died.

At least 15 miners were trapped in the illegal rat-hole mine in Khloo Ryngksan of East Jaintia Hills district, when it was flooded on December 13.

The Navy had also spotted several skeletons in the flooded mines.

According to five miners who had a narrow escape, one of the workers could have accidentally punctured the walls of possibly another nearby abandoned and flooded mine.