Meghalaya mine rescue ops likely to become longest in history
Bengaluru, Jan 15: On January 13, it's been is exactly a month since 15 miners have been trapped in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia hills district. Not a single miner has yet been rescued, rescuers are waiting for a miracle to happen.
The Supreme Court also had asked the state government to continue with the rescue operations. "Carry on with your rescue efforts, what if all or at least some are still alive? Miracles do happen," Justice AK Sikri, who headed the bench had said.
The previous rescue operations around the world do give hope for the lives of Meghalaya miners. The ongoing rescue operation is likely to be one of the longest in history.
Chile:
In 2010, 33 miners stranded 700m below the surface were rescued from the San José copper-gold project in northern Chile. At least four miners were killed, others successfully evacuated from the collapsed mine. The miners were trapped underground for 69 days. Rescue workers from Chile's National Emergency office and navy submarine experts, alongside NASA engineers, used three drills to cut through 600m of rock to reach the miners. A hole, measuring 12 inches wide, was first drilled to the workers before a wider hole was bored into the earth, large enough to fit an escape capsule.
Seek help of experts to rescue miners trapped in Meghalaya says SC
United
States:
A
group
of
coal
miners
at
the
Black
Wolf-owned
Quecreek
mine
in
Pennsylvania
accidentally
dug
into
the
neighbouring
Saxman
coal
mine
on
22
June
2002.
Breaking
into
the
abandoned
mine
flooded
the
Quecreek
operation
with
75
million
gallons
of
water
that
had
built
up
in
the
older
mine.
Diesel
water
pumps
were
used
to
remove
27,000
gallons
of
water
per
minute
from
the
mine.
Half
of
the
18
workers
were
able
to
escape
to
the
surface,
the
remaining
nine
were
trapped
in
the
mine's
shafts
and
chambers.
The
final
miner
reaching
the
surface
at
2:45
am
on
28
July.
China:
Over
a
hundred
miners
were
rescued
from
the
Wangjialing
mine
in
Shanxi
province
in
2010.
Flood
water
entered
the
mine
while
153
miners
were
underground.
rescuers
installed
pumps
that
drained
more
than
11
million
gallons
of
water
a
day
from
the
mine.
Unable
to
rescue
all
of
the
miners,
but
115
lives
were
saved.
Many
were
reported
as
missing
as
their
bodies
were
never
found
Australia:
In
April
2006,
when
a
magnitude
2.1
earthquake
hit
the
Beacons
field
gold
mine
in
Tasmania,
one
of
the
17
miners
working
underground
at
the
time
died.
The
majority,
14,
was
able
to
escape
to
the
surface,
leaving
two
miners
trapped
in
a
lift.
Rescuers
were
able
to
give
them
food
and
water
through
a
pipe
drilled
into
the
mine.
They
had
to
wait
two
weeks
before
rescue
workers
could
reach
them.