It seems nobody is alive: Justice Sikri on Meghalaya miners case
Justice Sikri said this in context of a public interest litigation seeking urgent steps for rescuing the miners trapped in the rat-hole mine since December 13 last year.
In Short
- A PIL was filed seeking urgent steps for rescuing the miners trapped in the rat-hole mine
- Justice Sikri believed that the trapped miners were not alive
- Illegal coal mining is a huge issue in the state of Meghalaya
Referring to the 15 miners who were trapped in an illegal rat-hole mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district, Justice AK Sikri said, "It seems to be certain that nobody is alive."
Justice Sikri said this in context of a public interest litigation seeking urgent steps for rescuing the miners trapped in the rat-hole mine since December 13 last year.
Illegal coal mining is a huge issue in the state of Meghalaya. Mining activity is carried out by drilling what are known as "rat-holes". A rat-hole is a narrow-horizontal shaft inside the mine. A miner has to crawls inside the rat-hole to extract coal.
20 miners had descended in the mine in Ksan village in East Jaintia District of Meghalaya on December 13 last year. As water from the river flooded the mine, five miners were able to climb out of the mine. However, the rest of the miners were trapped.
Authorities were heavily criticised for being slow to mount an effective rescue effort. Even when the rescue work had begun, pumps being used to remove water from the mine were found to be of inadequate capacity. The rescue effort was stopped as adequately powerful pumps were not available with the authorities.