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No survivor yet in Dhanbad mine

Efforts to find survivors in the flooded Bagdihi mine near Dhanbad failed Tuesday morning even as the dewatering process was expedited by the commissioning two more high-speed pumps.

A top BCCL official entered the mine Tuesday morning to survey the dry areas, identified earlier by the navy divers, but failed to find any survivor in these pockets, BCCL control room sources said.

The official, who was not identified, entered the pit without any diver after the water level was considerably lowered inside the pit where 38 miners were trapped since Friday noon.

Two more pumps were added Monday night to speed up the dewatering process. At present six pumps are being used in Bagdigi mine while three were draining out water from the nearby Jairampur mine from where water entered Bagdigi.

Meanwhile, the situation remained highly charged at the pithead with the relatives of the trapped miners and workers getting restless due to unavailability of any positive information, forcing the authorities to deploy a huge contingent of police to maintain law and order.

The recovery of one bloated body Monday further added to the tension as the authorities remained non-committal over the fate of the trapped miners. The body was identified to be that of cableman Pritam Singh from his cap lamp no 230.

BCCL sources said no other body was recovered by the divers who had gone deep inside the flooded mine several times since Saturday.

Meanwhile, the BCCL authorities remained non-committal on the redeployment of the navy divers.

"The purpose of the divers is over," a BCCL source said but refused to answer when asked whether the divers would be used again Tuesday.

He further explained that divers had been initially instructed to locate the dry pockets where the miners could have taken shelter.

A five-member diving team from Bombay had a minor setback Monday evening when it emerged from the mine after more than five hours of operation when a team member lost consciousness with blood pouring from his mouth. He was hospitalised.

Director General of Mine Safety R L Arora had till Monday maintained that the possibility of survivors among the 38 trapped miners, including a manager and an assistant manager, was not ruled out completely.

Already 96 hours had elapsed since 16 million gallons of water gushed into the Bagdihi mine.

At least three to four cameramen were manhandled by a mob Monday after a TV channel reported that 10 miners had been rescued. The agitated relatives also chased away media persons from the site.

PTI

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