Meghalaya mining mishap: Kirloskar Brothers offer high power pumps to drain water from mine

Shillong: A major pump manufacturing company has volunteered to provide equipment to drain out water from the mine in Meghalaya, where 15 diggers have been trapped for nearly a fortnight, to facilitate resumption of the halted search and rescue operation in the rat-hole coal pit. The district authorities have also written to the state government seeking high power pumps as the two 25 hp pumps were inadequate, said NDRF Assistant Commandant S K Singh, who is heading the force in the operation. A statement from the NDRF battalion based at Guwahati, which is carrying out the rescue operation, said the statement of its Assistant Commandant Santosh Kumar Singh on “foul smell” had been “misinterpreted and he was misquoted as saying that foul odour could indicate that the miners were dead and the bodies are beginning to decompose.” It explained the foul smell could have been due to the stagnated water. Meanwhile, sources said Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the national capital on Thursday over the coal mine disaster. Heavy pumps manufacturer Kirloskar Brothers Ltd has announced help in the search for the 15 miners who were trapped in the 370-foot-deep illegal coal mine.