Still in search of Miners in ‘Rat Hole’ Mines

27 Jan 2019

Still in search of Miners in ‘Rat Hole’ Mines

Still in search of Miners in ‘Rat Hole’ MinesIt was on 13th December 2018, that the news of 15 mine workers going missing in the illegal Rat Hole Mines of Meghalaya came to everyone’s knowledge. Rescue attempts have been very difficult due to mines being very narrow.

With the help of Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), the Navy unfortunately could only find the body of one mine worker. This was as deep as 160 feet from ground level.

Rescue operations are still on at Ksan near Lytein river in Meghalaya’s east Jaintia’s Hills. Curious Times shared this news, a few back days back.

Some of the important thoughts, which we leave with our Curious Readers are:

6 months back, 12 Thai football players and their coach got trapped in a northern Thailand cave. The rescue operations were immediately started by Thailand through their Navy. It kept pouring for most period of this operation. Thailand also requested international support and they received each bit of support from International Governments and volunteers from Thailand and other countries. The circumstances, weather and local conditions could be different. However, for a large country like ours, it has taken us over 35 days to find one of the bodies. Could, a higher-urgency rescue operation, saved some of the miners?

Large part of Meghalaya has traditionally depended on coal mining. The small Rat Hole Mines were declared illegal. However the mine owners depend on those mines for livelihood and so do the mine workers, in the absence of alternate work opportunities. At a state level, its also important to devise alternate work opportunities, where the traditional livelihood is being taken away.

Our heart goes out to the families of those who have not been rescued. Their financial limitations pushed their family members to take up such risky work.

UPDATE – 26-Jan-2019:

The rescue mission had to be abandoned after 45 days of  rigorous (very hard) attempts. The passing away of 1.5 months, narrowness of the mines, flooding of water and especially the acidic nature (it burns) leaves no hope of any success in the search. These are the reasons for abandoning the rescue.

What bothers you the most in this? Write to us at hello@curioustimes.in.

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It was on 13th December 2018, that the news of 15 mine workers going missing in the illegal Rat Hole Mines of Meghalaya came to […]

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