At least 15 miners are trapped in a 370 foot-deep illegal coal mine in Meghalaya. (File)
As part of the ongoing efforts to rescue trapped miners from a flooded coal mine in Meghalaya, multi-agencies personnel used high-powered pumps to drain out 28 lakh litres of water from the main shaft, where 15 miners got trapped, but navy divers have found no change in the water levels, officials said.
Rescuers using pumps from Coal India Ltd, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd and the Odisha Fire Service have managed to pump out 2.1 crore litres of water from the mines, including the main shaft and the abandoned ones nearby, till today, they said.
However, there has been no significant drop in the water level in these mines, leaving rescuers clueless where and how to look for the diggers, they said.
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd pumps, which was operational from 7 pm on Wednesday evening and continued to run for 11 hours, have pumped out 28 lakh litres from the main shaft, an official said.
Operation spokesperson R Susngi said the navy has conducted searches in at least six mines, including in the main shaft, for the trapped diggers, but there has been no success.
According to the navy, the water level in the area was totally raptured and search will continue in the adjacent mines.
At least 15 miners are trapped in a 370 foot-deep illegal coal mine at Khloo Ryngksan area of Nongkhlieh elaka under East Jaintia Hills district since December 13 last year.
At the vertical shaft of the mine, the water level is about 160 feet deep rendering the rescue divers from the Indian Navy and the National Disaster Response Force unable to perform safe diving as it is beyond their 100 feet diving capacity, Mr Susngi said.
At least 200 rescuers from the navy, NDRF, the Odisha Fire Service, State Disaster Response Fund, states Fire service and others from CIL and KBL are involved in the multi-agency rescue operations.