Supreme Court to hear PIL on Meghalaya miners' rescue
New Delhi, Jan 2 (IBNS): The Supreme Court will hear on Thursday a petition seeking urgent steps to rescue 15 miners trapped inside a mine in Meghalaya, reports said.
A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul will hear the matter, said The Indian Express.
Lawyer Aditya N. Prasad filed the PIL seeking adequate manpower and equipment to rescue the miners, who have been trapped in the "rat-hole" mine since December 13, the report said, adding that he had also sought a direction to the authorities to prepare a standard operating procedure for such situations.
Indian Navy divers, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and fire fighters from Odisha Fire Services are engaged in the rescue operation. Only three helmets have been recovered so far.
Assistant Commandant of NDRF’s 1st battalion Santosh Kumar Singh said five navy divers on Sunday had reached around 70 feet from the surface.
The miners remained trapped inside the flooded coal mine at Ksan village near Lumthari area since December 13 and their fate is still unknown even as the rescuers continues to struggle to locate them aid surging water inside the 370-feet deep pit.
The Meghalaya government had suspended the rescue operations on December 24 after two pumps proved ineffective in reducing the water level inside the coal mine . The operations resumed on December 29 after Indian navy divers and 21 fire fighters of Odisha Fire Services joined the operation with 10 high-powered pumps.
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