More than a month after 15 miners were trapped in an illegal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia hills, Navy divers have detected the body of one person. The body was detected at a depth of nearly 210 feet inside the "rat-hole" mine. The rat-hole mine, atop a hillock fully covered with trees in the East Jaintia Hills district, was flooded when water from the nearby Letein river gushed into it, trapping the 15 miners. Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually three-four-foot high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed "rat holes" as each just about fits one person.
Here are the LIVE UPDATES of rescue ops in Meghalaya:
#MeghalayaMineTragedy #Flash One body detected by Indian Navy Divers using Underwater ROV at a depth of approx 60 feet and 210 feet inside a rat-hole mine @SpokespersonMoD @DefenceMinIndia @nsitharaman @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/sP1sv6ikRn
- SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) 17 January 2019
