The India Navy suspended their operations to retrieve the bodies of the 15 missing miners in Meghalaya as too much disintegration of the bodies occurred when attempts were made to retrieve them.
An underwater drone detected the body of one of the miners at a depth of 160 feet in the rat hole tunnel. The Indian Navy had been trying to fish out the body taking doctors advice. However when attempts were made to pull the body out, it was breaking up into pieces and disintegrating making it even harder to retrieve them.
The families of the victims want the bodies of their loved ones no matter even if it’s just a finger, a hand or a leg.
The Meghalaya government will approach the Supreme Court with a list of the problems in continuing the search and rescue operations. The Navy is likely to put forth its observations and suggestions before the apex court.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said, “The body is soft. Every time they are trying to pull it’s coming off some pieces.”
There were reports of the drone pulling out the body, however the Chief Minister clarified that the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) which detected it cannot pull it out because the body is too heavy for it and it is not possible for rescue divers to go inside the mine because of the water level.
In brief, 15 miners were trapped in the illegal rat-hole mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills on the 13th of December last month as the mine was flooded from a neighbouring river. The Supreme Court pulled up the Meghalaya Government after delay in rescue works. Then later several agencies joined to rescue the trapped miners. The terrain made it tough for logistics and heavy equipment movement which further delayed the rescue.