Shillong, January 7: The operations to rescue 15 miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district is being carried out for the last 25 days. Coal India Limited (CIL) today pumped around 2,26,800 litres of water from the old shaft in two hours. Meanwhile, Odisha Fire Service reported that they stopped pumping from two old shafts at 5.30 pm today. Both the pumps were run for 10 hours each and total water discharge pumped out today is 1,80,000 litres.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is coordinating with agencies and providing assistance accordingly. Indian Navy divers have also put down Under Water Remotely Operating Vehicle (UWROV) and work is in progress. A high power submersible pump from Coal India and two other pumps from Odisha were engaged in dewatering the nearby abandoned mines, which might be interlinked and as much help in lowering of water in the main shaft.

According to reports, the water level at the main shaft where the miners are trapped is about 160 feet. On December 13, 20 miners went inside a 370-feet deep illegal mine in Lumthari village. While 5 managed to escape, 15 miners have been trapped since then after the water from the nearby river Lytein flooded the mine.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident on Sunday, two coal miners were killed after another illegal coal mine collapsed in Mooknor Jalia village of Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills. Speaking on the incident, state Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said, “Circumstances under which the two bodies were found yesterday were mysterious. These individuals were missing for a long time.” He further added that the incident should not be connected to the mining activity and the government is probing the incident.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 07, 2019 11:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).