Shillong, January 1: Rescue operations to look for 15 trapped miners inside a 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills continued for the 19th day on Tuesday. The miners have been trapped inside the illegal coal mine since December 13 after water from a nearby Lytein river gushed in. According to a tweet by ANI, the Odisha Fire Service is trying its best to pump out the water from the rat-hole mine and check the water level inside. Meghalaya Mining Mishap: 15 Miners Remain Trapped As Multi-Agency Operation Yields No Results.

According to ANI, R Susngi, Dist PRO, East Jaintia Hills said, "Odisha Fire Service is trying its best to run the machine and insert pumps inside to take out the water&check water level in the main shaft". Susngi further informed that a total of 15 miners are trapped out of which five are from Assam, seven from Meghalaya and three from this dist. Rescue operations are currently underway. Meghalaya Mine Tragedy: Survivor Says No Chance of Them Being Alive.

On Monday, divers of the Indian Navy divers again entered the flooded mine in Meghalaya and the search would be feasible only after the water level inside the shaft is reduced to a safe diving limit of 30 metres. Operation spokesperson R Susngi informed that the Navy divers stayed inside the shaft for three hours with a hi-tech gadget, Under Water Remotely Operated Vehicle (UWROV), and found visibility to be very poor only one foot. What Is Rat-Hole Mining? 15 Meghalaya Miners Trapped in Illegal Mine Waits for Help From Government.

The Navy said that the depth of water from the surface till the bottom of the pit is expected to be over 150 feet. On Sunday, six divers from the Navy and the NDRF went down the shaft of the mine and spent around two hours to trace the miners but could not detect anything.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 01, 2019 04:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).