Body lost in Meghalaya mine

Indian Navy divers on Wednesday said the miner's body they had detected in the flooded coal mine in Meghalaya slipped from the jaw of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on Tuesday, hours after they resumed their operation.

"The navy team resumed their work with the ROV inside the main shaft to locate the remains that slipped from the jaw of the ROV yesterday evening while trying to pull it upwards. Due to the presence of pipes, cables and debris in the main shaft their efforts to locate it has not been successful so far," official spokesperson M Susngi said on Wednesday evening.

A total of 15 miners got trapped in the 350-feet mine in East Jaintia Hills district, after they entered to extract coal on December 23. The miners dug horizontal holes inside the vertical shafts and crawled inside to extract coal.

The navy divers on January 17 had detected a body and pulled it up to 100 feet. A status report that briefed the Supreme Court about the multi-agency operation on Monday said that navy divers were asked to shift from the main shaft as the skull, left wrist and the legs from the knee had already disengaged from the body.

Family members of at least four victims requested the district administration to pull out the bodies for last rites.

Meanwhile, efforts to pump out water from the flooded mines continued even on Wednesday.