Supreme Court directs Centre to airlift Kirloskar pumps to Meghalaya to recover trapped miners’ bodies

The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre, directing it to recover the bodies of miners trapped in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia hills district. Water levels inside the 370-feet-deep coal mine are proving to be a hindrance in rescue operations, which are being led by the Indian Navy. The apex court has ordered that Kirloskar pumps be airlifted to Meghalaya to pump out water from the mine in order to facilitate the speedy recovery of miners’ bodies. [caption id=“attachment_5746891” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of search operations at Meghalaya mine. Image source: 101Reporters.[/caption] In December last year, 15 miners were trapped when water from the Lytien river flooded the illegal mine in Lumthari village on 13 December. The first body was retrieved on 24 January. Two days later, the second body was located but could not be retrieved. Rescue teams discovered the third decomposed body of a miner on Sunday. “The underwater ROV of the Indian Navy on Sunday detected skeletons of the third miner deep inside the coal mine. Efforts are on to retrieve it,” a senior district official told PTI. Rescue operations, which also include the Indian Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and state agencies, continued for the 75th day on Monday. The state government announced interim relief of Rs 1 lakh to family members of the miners.