June 19, 2021 - Indian Navy divers on the lookout for five miners trapped in a flooded coal mine located in the East Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya have recovered one body after six days of operations.

Indian Navy divers have to go down almost 500 feet where the miners are trapped amid labyrinth-like horizontal shafts in a cramped-up space, making it difficult to even crawl.

In what can be construed as one of the most physically and tactically daunting operations, a 12-member Indian Navy diving team, in action since June 12 to rescue the five miners, has recovered the body of one miner, sources said.

The diving effort to search for the remaining four miners is still on.

“The space is very restricted and narrow. Commendable work done by the navy, in spite of all constraints, they have been able to recover one of the bodies,” said Ethelbert Kharmalki, DC Khliehriat

The Indian Navy had assisted in the rescue and recovery effort of 15 miners trapped in a mine in Ksan, Meghalaya, under similar conditions, in December 2018.

“The current operations are considered extremely challenging and require the Indian Navy divers to lower themselves and their specialised diving gear into an extremely narrow shaft to a depth of almost 400 feet and carry out diving up to further 100 feet,” said a navy official.

Diving operations are further challenged by poor underwater visibility, unmapped shaft construction hazards, flotsam, and falling debris.

According to officials, other challenges like prolonged durations in low temperatures (35 degrees Celsius) pose significant medical risks such as hypothermia.

Currently, over 50 personnel from National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, District Disaster Response Force, Fire and Emergency Service and the police have been deployed at the site, and the Naval divers trained to dive to such depths are carrying out the critical task of searching and retrieving the trapped miners.

Even with incessant rains, low visibility, and numerous obstacles, the Indian Navy divers assiduously continue the search operation that has entered the sixth day, hoping that any light at the end of the tunnel will bring lasting solace and closure to the families.

While the divers have specialised equipment such as the Diver Handheld Navigation System (DHNS) for bottom-mapping of the mineshaft, any technology can do little to ameliorate the raw, gut-wrenching adversity that such an operation entails.