The families of the trapped miners inside an illegal 370-ft flooded coal mine in Meghalaya said that they want the “dead bodies” of the miners to be taken out as per the Supreme Court order even as Navy divers captured pictures of a body inside the flooded mine.
On Wednesday, the Indian Navy Divers used an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) at a depth of about 160 feet in a rat-hole mine at Ksan village in East Jaintia Hills district, with pictures of a body which was pulled up to the mouth of the mine.
“The body will be extracted under the supervision of doctors”, a Navy spokesperson had said in a tweet.
“The rescuers showed us video footages of a dead body stuck inside a coal mine in a computer (underwater ROV). We don’t know whose body it is. We want the government to follow the Supreme Court order to get the bodies out of that coal mine”, said Malik Ali, brother of Munirul Islam, who is among those trapped inside the mine. “We want his body back so that we can give him a decent burial”, said Ali.
With the body showing signs of decomposition, the district authorities sought the consent of the family members of the trapped miners to furnish their views by Friday on whether the body could be taken out from the mine.
“Deputy Commissioner F.M. Dopth invited the family members from Lumthari village and two from Assam Chirang district to view the video footages”, said Rescue spokesperson Reginald Susngi.
A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices A.K. Sikri and S. Abdul Nazeer had expressed dissatisfaction with the rescue operation and ordered: “No matter whether they (trapped persons) are all dead, some alive, few dead or all alive, they should have been taken out by now. We pray to God that they all are alive.”