Efforts to rescue 15 miners trapped in a rathole mine in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills has hit a wall after a preliminary study by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) found out that the water flooding the mine did not come from the neighbouring Letein River.
Unable to disclose the exact source, the team of geologists and geophysicists believe the trapped miners, in their hunt for coal, could have committed a big error of puncturing a groundwater source that has been continuously recharging the water level in the shaft. This may explain why even after heavy-duty pumps removing more than 1.2 crore litres of water from the mine hole since December 13, 2018, there is no drop in the water level inside the mine shaft. Experts engaged in the rescue operation are finding this to be the biggest challenge and are counting on the final report of GSI and other experts to plug the source of water seepage into the mine.
The team of geologists from GSI visited the site located at Ksan village on January 15 and submitted their initial findings to the Meghalaya government.
The Solicitor General representing Centre in a PIL on the issue had informed Supreme Court on Jan 4 that "water from the river is seeping to the mine". Contradicting this, the GSI team said, "Since the water level of the river is nearly 10 to 11 metres higher as compared to the water level in the shaft in question and the adjoining shafts, it is ruled out that the river is contributing to the lateral seepage through the rock formations from any nearby location."
The geologists have shared two probabilities leading to water build-up in the mine. "The continuous recharge in the shaft may be from some highly pervious zones or limestone caverns present at similar water level in the river bed," the report said. Also, it added, "It may be possible that the miners might have punctured a confined aquifer (groundwater source) at that depth while excavating the coal."
The report comes at a time when the divers of the Navy have been successful in locating the body of one of the miners at a depth of 210 feet (64 metres) in the flooded mine. Using remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the decomposed body, which is fast disintegrating, has been brought to 100 feet. The experts have a strong belief that other bodies could lie further beneath. Only ROVs can go that far but the shaft space being too narrow to manoeuvre, this too is a challenge.
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