Shillong, January 17: Engaged in the rescue operations for the last one month, Indian Navy divers have finally spotted the skeletons of the miners trapped inside the rat-hole coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills on Thursday. The divers of the rescue operations have seen skeletons through their underwater remotely operated vehicles, quotes ANI.

Though the rescue operation – by a combined team of Indian Navy, NDRF, SDRF and state police personnel – started their process in December 2018, the situation became complicated with each passing day as underground water gushed into the mine. As per to reports, due to this, 70-feet got filled in the mine and is delaying the rescue operations. Meghalaya Mining Tragedy: One Body Recovered, Rescue Operation Continues to Find Other Trapped Miners.

After days of planning and draining gallons to water from the mine, the Navy personnel were able to locate and recover the body of one of the miners trapped inside the main shaft of the mine, on Wednesday.

The rescue operation team expects that none of the miners could have survived till now, as the miners were stuck 150-200 feet below the earth’s surface and high sulphur content in the mine have led them to death. Also, the sulphur content can decompose bodies very fast. Forensic experts have been called to help in investigating the case.

Giving more details, Navy PRO Captain DK Sharma had said earlier, as reported by TimesNow, “We got our first success yesterday. Unfortunately, it was a dead body. Our divers are trying by hit and trial in uncharted mines. At least we've established they're in this area. The operation will continue until we get orders to stop.”

Earlier, taking cognisance of the matter, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Meghalaya state government and Narendra Modi-led central government, seeking a report by February 19, 2019. Incidentally, rat mining is banned in Meghalaya and other regions of India. Though the quality of coal in the Jaintia Hills is not quality, the price for that coal is huge in the state and due to this contractors lure workers for digging coal through a rat hole.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2019 04:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).