The Centre on Monday dismissed a charge made in the Supreme Court that it has “abandoned” operations to rescue trapped miners in a flooded Meghalaya rat-hole mine even as the State government informed that “bodies of the remaining miners are behind the body detected on January 16 ” by the Navy’s underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in a narrow shaft 210 feet below.
Meghalaya counsel Avijit Mani Tripathi informed a Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and S. Abdul Nazeer that the unidentified body is a decomposed state and it is “virtually impossible” to retrieve it. The space is too narrow to bring the body out and danger of complete “disintegration” of the body is high. The State said it is in consultation with the families of the missing miners about future action.
Senior advocate Anand Grover, representing PIL petitioner-advocate Aditya N. Prasad, said the authorities are “trying to abandon the operation”.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for the Central government, immediately intervened to state that “there is no intention to abandon the operation. It is still going on”.
Mr. Tripathi, referring to a 11-page affidavit filed by the Meghalaya government on the status of the operation, said the body was found “lying prostrated with his head downward”.
“The miner was found wearing red T-shirt and jeans,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit said the ROV was utilised for moving the body from 210 feet to 100 feet. “However, as a consequence of the condition in the rat-hole, there are signs of decay, making the evacuation of the body difficult”.
The affidavit said “it is the considered opinion of the naval team that if the body is pulled further, there will be total disintegration of different parts, rendering the same virtually impossible to retrieve”.
It said that “as per the latest reports, the bodies of the remaining miners are behind the body detected on January 16, 2019”.
Meghalaya said the space is too narrow to manoeuvre for taking pictures from different angles. “The naval team has been advised to leave the remaining body at the site awaiting further advice from forensic experts and doctor’s opinion. At present, the ROV has been deployed in alternative shafts.”
Meghalaya said the high-powered pumps to drain water from the mine is continuously in use. The miners have been trapped in the rat-hole mine in East Jaintia Hills since December 13.
