The 12 rat-hole miners took turns to work like this inside the pipe from 7.15pm on Monday to 6.30pm on Tuesday to clear the last barrier of 8-10 metres of debris to bring out the workers trapped for 16 days
The rat-hole miners removed the last barrier of debris with their bare hands and rudimentary equipment after US-imported machines had drilled a channel over a fortnight pockmarked with excruciating obstacles
Manual digging was the best option to go through the final eight to 10 metres of the collapsed rubble and the skills of rat-hole miners were ideal for that task, officials and geologists monitoring the 17-day rescue effort said
Illegal Rat-Hole Coal Mining Continues in Meghalaya, 6 Miners from Assam Feared Trapped
Disaster management teams of the police and fire departments, besides service personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), have been sent to the area.
| 1 Jun 2021 6:58 AM GMT
GUWAHATI: Six miners from Assam were feared trapped inside a coal mine after it collapsed in Meghalaya s East Jaintia Hills district.
According to reports, the miners were involved in illegal rat-hole mining. Information has emanated from SP Silchar that 6 persons from Assam are trapped in a coal mine in EJ Hills. The mine has been identified at Sutnga interior, under Umpleng Anti-Dacoity camp, and search operations are on, Meghalaya Police posted on Twitter. The Silchar SP had stated that the incident took place on Sunday night. The district police were able to identify the probable location of the spot at around 0600 hrs on May 31. The delay in identification of the probable site was due to incleme