Thirteen people remain trapped in a flooded illegal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia hills district a day after the incident even as efforts to pump out water, continuing since Thursday, failed to yield any result.
After the incident came to light on Thursday morning, a pump was pressed into service at 4 p.m. and is being switched off every three hours to give it rest, officials said on Friday.
Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force consisting of 60 personnel reached here on Friday morning, while 12 personnel from the State Disaster Response Force are already at the site, they said.
“We are trying to pump the water out from the mine, which is 370 feet deep. The water level is about 70 feet, according to the NDRF,” Police DIG (Eastern Range) A.R. Mawthoh said. However, the water level has not gone down and two more pumps would be put into service later in the day, East Jaintia Hills district SP Sylvester Nongtynger said.
