Meghalaya mine tragedy: After two months, one more miner body detected

Imphal, Feb 27: The Indian Navy on Wednesday detected the highly decomposed body of another miner, the fourth of the 15 miners trapped inside a 370-foot-deep illegal rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district for over two months, officials said.

Navy teams were using a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to retrieve the third body, detected on Sunday. They, however, said retrieving the bodies might disintegrate them.

At least 15 miners were trapped deep inside the illegal coal pit, owned by a person identified by authorities as Krip Chulet, since December 13. After 75 days, only one body could be retrieved intact.

Apart from the Indian Navy, the Army, the NDRF and the state's agencies are engaged in the operations that begun hours after the accident took place on December 13 morning.