Amid dying hopes of rescuing the 15 trapped miners alive, the Indian Air Force on Friday joined the rescue operations and the Indian Navy despatched its diving team to reach the Meghalaya coal mine in which water from a nearby flooded pit continues to seep in incessantly since December 13.
"Indian Navy is deploying a 15 member diving team from Visakhapatnam to assist the rescue operations," said Indian Navy Spokesperson.
#MeghalayaMineTragedy #IndianNavy is deploying a 15 member diving team fm Visakhapatnam 2 assist in rescue ops for missing miners in Meghalaya. The team is carrying spl diving eqpmt incl a re-compression chamber & remotely operated vehicles capable of searching underwater 1/2 pic.twitter.com/9eaCqv3EVw
— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) December 28, 2018
Meanwhile, Fire Services personnel from the eastern state of Odisha also left for Meghalaya in a special aircraft to assist local authorities in the rescue of trapped coal miners. However, the local television reporters on the ground have conveyed that the situation is grim and the operation to save 15 miners in Meghalaya seems to be very difficult.
Odisha Fire Services team also left for #Meghalaya in a special aircraft to assist local authorities in the rescue of trapped coal miners pic.twitter.com/yo5Sr9e7ef
— ANI (@ANI) December 28, 2018
"Rescue operations are underway. Besides the three units of NDRF, technical teams having expertise in mining fields are also here. Coal India has also sent a team to support the rescue work. Till now we have not been able to establish any contact with the trapped miners," SK Shastri, Commandant, NDRF told Sputnik.
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