National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on Saturday began dewatering the coal mine in their bid to rescue about five coal miners trapped, an official said.
The fate of the miners, who are trapped inside the 500 feet flooded coal mine in Krem Ule, Umpleng for the last six days, still remains unknown.
The district administration said that the rescue teams had verified that the water level receded to about 20 feet from the level of the previous day but could not ascertain whether it was because of pumping or natural seepage of the water as there was no rain yesterday.
An additional 200 KVA Gen Set also reached the incident site to augment the power back up as more pumps were in the process to install and technical persons were engaged in fitting the additional pumps and in mobilizing control panels to commission the 200 KV generator.
“The combined rescue team along with the district Administration and in consultation with local expertise is exploring that there is a possibility that this mine shaft is connected with another mine shaft which is 270 meters (Arial distance) away from the mine shaft where the accident took place,” East Jaiñtia Hills Deputy Commissioner, E Kharmalki said.
He said that as per a report of the NDRF, the nearby shaft is 330 feet deep and the depth underwater is approximately 152 feet. As far as the depth of the water is concerned there is a likelihood that the two shafts may be connected with one another by a same underground tunnel, he added.
Meanwhile, the district administration has written to the Director of Land Records to send a survey team to study the water level of the two shafts with respect to the ground level as done earlier in the case of Ksan incident.
Further, the District Administration is following up with Coal India Limited, Guwahati for supply of additional pumps and the process is still on.
