<p>Guwahati: Water from "unknown sources" halted the search operation in a 'rat hole' coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao district, in which five miners have still remained traceless since January 6. </p><p>A team of the Navy, which was rushed from Visakhapatnam to join the search operations, was withdrawn as several agencies continued their works to dewater the 300 feet well, which got flooded on the morning of January 6. </p>.<p>Bodies of four miners were retrieved till Saturday but the search operation for the remaining five was halted as water level in the mine refused to recede despite the draining attempts.</p>.Assam: Rescue efforts continue as survival chances fade for trapped miners.<p>At least 15 high powered pumps were pressed into service as on Monday but several agencies struggled to dewater the mine as water from an "unknown source" kept the water level almost the same.</p><p>A spokesperson at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam told <em>DH</em> on Tuesday that the Assam government asked the Navy team to be de-inducted as they were trying to dewater the well. </p>.<p>"Our team was deployed at the request of the state administration, who have now asked for our team to be de-inducted as they need to dewater the mine. The mine continues to have water ingress from unknown sources," said Commodore Sujit Reddy, the defence PRO at Visakhapatnam.</p><p>The local administration believes that the water could be coming from nearby coal mines, which remained flooded and abandoned. The well got flooded as workers hit a nearby flooded well while digging a horizontal shaft to extract coal. The wells are first dug vertically and workers then make horizontal shafts in order to extract coal. Some shafts are so narrow that workers have to crawl like rats and so the name rat hole mines.</p><p>A team of Navy deep divers equipped with remotely operated vehicles reached the site on January 8. Rescue workers from multiple agencies retrieved the body of one miner, identified as Ganga Bahadur Sresth from Nepal’s Udayapur district on January 8. Three others were retrieved on January 11. </p><p>Indian Army, NDRF and other agencies in Assam continued their search but the five workers have still remained missing in the mine. The rescuers say the hope about survival of the five is dwindling as nine days have passed since the well got flooded and trapped them inside.</p>
<p>Guwahati: Water from "unknown sources" halted the search operation in a 'rat hole' coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao district, in which five miners have still remained traceless since January 6. </p><p>A team of the Navy, which was rushed from Visakhapatnam to join the search operations, was withdrawn as several agencies continued their works to dewater the 300 feet well, which got flooded on the morning of January 6. </p>.<p>Bodies of four miners were retrieved till Saturday but the search operation for the remaining five was halted as water level in the mine refused to recede despite the draining attempts.</p>.Assam: Rescue efforts continue as survival chances fade for trapped miners.<p>At least 15 high powered pumps were pressed into service as on Monday but several agencies struggled to dewater the mine as water from an "unknown source" kept the water level almost the same.</p><p>A spokesperson at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam told <em>DH</em> on Tuesday that the Assam government asked the Navy team to be de-inducted as they were trying to dewater the well. </p>.<p>"Our team was deployed at the request of the state administration, who have now asked for our team to be de-inducted as they need to dewater the mine. The mine continues to have water ingress from unknown sources," said Commodore Sujit Reddy, the defence PRO at Visakhapatnam.</p><p>The local administration believes that the water could be coming from nearby coal mines, which remained flooded and abandoned. The well got flooded as workers hit a nearby flooded well while digging a horizontal shaft to extract coal. The wells are first dug vertically and workers then make horizontal shafts in order to extract coal. Some shafts are so narrow that workers have to crawl like rats and so the name rat hole mines.</p><p>A team of Navy deep divers equipped with remotely operated vehicles reached the site on January 8. Rescue workers from multiple agencies retrieved the body of one miner, identified as Ganga Bahadur Sresth from Nepal’s Udayapur district on January 8. Three others were retrieved on January 11. </p><p>Indian Army, NDRF and other agencies in Assam continued their search but the five workers have still remained missing in the mine. The rescuers say the hope about survival of the five is dwindling as nine days have passed since the well got flooded and trapped them inside.</p>