Meghalaya: Indian Navy team to join in rescue operations to save trapped miners

The Navy spokesman said in a tweet that a 15-member diving team from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh will reach the site in the remote Lumthari village in East Jaintia Hills district Saturday morning.

15 diggers have been trapped in a illegal coal mine in Meghalaya (Image: ANI)

Shillong: Indian Navy divers will join in the intensive rescue operations which are underway to save 15 miners who are trapped inside a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya.  The survival chances are bleak for the 15 miners who are trapped inside a flooded rat-hole coal mine  since December 13. The Navy spokesman said in a tweet that a 15-member diving team from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh will reach the site in the remote Lumthari village in East Jaintia Hills district Saturday morning. On Friday, 20 pumps were flown in by the Indian Air Force. As per latest reports, the rescuers from the Air Force and the Coal India are now on their way travelling 200 km to the exact spot to save the miners trapped for a fortnight. Superintendent of Police Sylvester Mongtynger said two teams from Kirloskar Brothers Ltd also arrived on Thursday to help in rescuing the miners trapped in the 370-foot-deep illegal mine. " Two surveyors from Kirloskar Brothers Ltd arrived at the sit .. Earlier on Thursday, a 21-member team of fire fighters from Odisha, who was airlifted by Indian Air Force's C-130J Super Hercules from Bhubaneswar to the Guwahati airport, are proceeding towards the site at Ksan village in East Jaintia Hills district. The illegal rat-hole coal mine is located at Lumthari village near Khliehriat, the headquarters of East Jaintia Hills district. It got flooded when water from nearby Lytein river gushed into it on December 13, trapping the 15 diggers.