New Delhi, January 11: While efforts to look for the 15 trapped miners are underway in the rat-hole mine in Meghalaya, the Supreme Court on Friday told the government to carry on with the rescue operations as 'miracles do happen'. Asked the government about the status of the rescue operations, the top Court said, 'what is being done about persons operating illegal mines & the officials who allowed illegal mines to go on?' According to a tweet by ANI, a bench headed by Justice AK Sikri said, "Carry on with your rescue efforts, what if all or at least some are still alive? Miracles do happen." Meghalaya Mining Tragedy: 28 Lakh Litres of Water Pumped Out of Rat-Hole Mine but No Change in Water Level, Says Navy. 

On Thursday, agencies used high-powered pumps and managed to drain out 28 lakh litres of water from the main shaft. According to Navy divers, there is no change in the water level in the mine to resume search operation. According to a PTI report, the rescuers are using pumps from Coal India Ltd, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd and the Odisha Fire Service. What Is Rat-Hole Mining? 15 Meghalaya Miners Trapped in Illegal Mine Waits for Help From Government.

So far, the muti-agencies have managed to pump out 2.1 crore litres of water from the mines. Earlier, the divers couldn't dive in as the water inside was chilling cold and this is making it difficult for the rescue team to carry out their operation.

According to a report by PTI, 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. Earlier, the top Court had expressed strong dissatisfaction over the rescue efforts to trace the miners and had asked the state government to bring them out dead or alive.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 11, 2019 01:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).