Mine tragedy: Meghalaya govt suspends rescue efforts to retrieve bodies of trapped miners

In view of the inclement weather condition, the Meghalaya government has suspended the operation to retrieve the bodies of the miners trapped inside a coal mine at Krem U Le, Umpleng in East Jaintia Hills District.

After over a month of rescue operations to retrieve the five trapped coal miners, the State Government has finally suspended the rescue efforts until further notice.

The water level has risen due to the incessant rains, which has severely hampered the diving operation in the mine shaft for retrieval of the bodies. The rescuers had been unable to proceed with the operations for the last one week due to rains.

So far, the divers from Indian Navy were able to retrieve bodies of three miners from the main shaft of the mine. The three bodies were recovered from 152 meter-deep coal mine on June 16, 24, and 25, respectively. The bodies have been identified as Anowarul Islam, Abdul Sakur and Shyam Charan Debberma by their family members.

Worth mentioning here, at least five miners got trapped inside an illegal coal mine at Krem U Le in Umpleng under the Sutnga Elaka of the district after a tragic accident that took place on the night of May 30.

As many as 50 personnel from National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, District Disaster Response Force, Indian Navy, Fire and Emergency Service and the police were camping at the site during the operation to retrieve the trapped miners.